| Hi everyone, |
| in this session I'll be presenting my research about the social history of Britain during the Industrial Revolution. |
| I particularly looked at how ordinary lives were affected by changes that happened at that time. |
| This was a time that saw the beginning of a new phenomenon; consumerism - |
| where buying and selling goods became a major part of ordinary people's lives. |
| In fact, it was in the 19th century that the quantity and quality of people's possessions |
| was used as an indication of the wealth of the country. |
| Before this, the vast majority of people had very few possessions, |
| but all that was changed by the Industrial Revolution. |
| This was the era from the mid-18th to the late 19th century, |
| when improvements in how goods were made |
| as well as in technology triggered massive social changes |
| that transformed life for just about everybody in several key areas. |
| First let's look at manufacturing. |
| When it comes to manufacturing, |
| we tend to think of the Industrial Revolution in images of steam engines and coal. |
| And it's true that the Industrial Revolution couldn't have taken place at all |
| if it weren't for these new sources of power. |
| They marked an important shift away from the traditional watermills and windmills |
| that had dominated before this. |
| The most advanced industry for much of the 19th century was textiles. |
| This meant that fashionable fabrics, and lace and ribbons were made available to everyone. |
| Before the Industrial Revolution, most people made goods to sell in small workshops, |
| often in their own homes. |
| But enormous new machines were now being created |
| that could produce the goods faster and on a larger scale, |
| and these required a lot more space. |
| So large factories were built, |
| replacing the workshops, and forcing workers to travel to work. |
| In fact, large numbers of people migrated from villages into towns as a result. |
| As well as manufacturing, there were new technologies in transport, |
| contributing to the growth of consumerism. |
| The horse-drawn stagecoaches and carts of the 18th century, |
| which carried very few people and goods, |
| and travelled slowly along poorly surfaced roads, |
| were gradually replaced by the numerous canals that were constructed. |
| These were particularly important for the transportation of goods. |
| The canals gradually fell out of use, though, as railways were developed, |
| becoming the main way of moving goods and people from one end of the country to the other. |
| And the goods they moved weren't just coal, iron, clothes, and so on - |
| significantly, they included newspapers, |
| which meant that thousands of people were not only more knowledgeable about what was going on in the country, |
| but could also read about what was available in the shops. |
| And that encouraged them to buy more. |
| so faster forms of transport resulted in distribution becoming far more efficient - |
| goods could now be sold all over the country, instead of just in the local market. |
| The third main area that saw changes that contributed to consumerism was retailing. |
| The number and quality of shops grew rapidly, |
| and in particular, small shops suffered as customers flocked to the growing number of department stores - |
| a form of retailing that was new in the 19th century. |
| The entrepreneurs who opened these found new ways to stock them with goods, |
| and to attract customers: |
| for instance, improved lighting inside greatly increased the visibility of the goods for sale. |
| Another development that made goods more visible from outside resulted from the use of plate glass, |
| which made it possible for windows to be much larger than previously. |
| New ways of promoting goods were introduced, too. |
| Previously, the focus had been on informing potential customers about the availability of goods; |
| now there was an explosion in advertising trying to persuade people to go shopping. |
| Flanders claims that one of the great effects of the Industrial Revolution was that it created choice. |
| All sorts of things that had previously been luxuries - |
| from sugar to cutlery - became conveniences, |
| and before long they'd turned into necessities: |
| life without sugar or cutlery was unimaginable. |
| Rather like mobile phones these days! |