Excactly WHY was the Industrial Revolution important?

Question

What makes it relevant today?

Answer 1

By allowing us to to manufacture goods quickly and cheaply, as well as facilitating agriculture on a previously unimagined scale, we were able to dramatically increase both the population and the standard of living in our country. Prior to the I.R., products were made primarily by hand, or with simple machines powered by wind, water and animals. Great wealth was basically limited to people who had money in their families, or who were able to parlay their individual talents into greater social standing. The I.R. saw the birth of the inventor, the entrepreneur, and the modern day capitalist. Fortunes were made overnight in industries like oil, steel, rail & communications.

What makes it relevant today is obvious... without the I.R., we would still be living an agrarian society, walking or riding horses, making our own clothes, furniture and shelters, and we would have none of the modern conveniences we've grown accustomed to like electricty, telephones, running water, etc.

Most people see the I.R. as a completed stage in our (American) social development, and it is actually much less relevant today then it was 25 years ago. We are now in the midst of the Technological Revolution, where knowledge and information are the primary products we produce (as evidenced by this Q&A forum) and Industry (manufacturing) has been outsourced to other countries (ie. Japan, Taiwan, China)

Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

The IR was important because it, more than any other factor, is responsible for the American middle class. Until about 10-20-30 years ago, we had a huge middle class that made us and the economy strong.

It is relevant today because the middle class is disappearing. America is no longer the Industrial nation we once were. Think, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc. All of our industry has been exported. Here at home, many companies have long since gone to hiring 30-35 hour a week part-timers so they don't have to give benefits to full-time employees. these and other factors have contributed to the erosion of middle class.

Just today, there was a report that the rich are getting richer faster, and the poor are still poor.