Rehabilitating the Industrial Revolution

Author(s): Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Feb., 1992), pp. 24-50
Published by: Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Economic History Society
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EconomicHistoryReview, XLV,

I(I992),

pp.

24-50

Rehabilitating
theindustrial
revolution'

By MAXINE BERG and PAT HUDSON

T he historiography
of the industrial
revolution
in Englandhas moved

and earlynineteenth
centuries
as
awayfromviewingthelateeighteenth
a uniqueturning
The notionof
pointin economicand socialdevelopment.2
radicalchangein industry
and societyoccurring
overa specific
periodwas
in the I920s and I930s by Claphamand otherswho
effectively
challenged
stressedthe long taprootsof development
and the incomplete
natureof
economicand socialtransformation.'
Afterthisit was no longerpossibleto
claimthatindustrial
societyemergedde novoat anytimebetweenc. I750
and i85o, buttheidea ofindustrial
revolution
survived
intothe i960s and
I970s. In i968 Hobsbawmcould state unequivocally
that the British
revolution
wasthemostfundamental
in thehistory
industrial
transformation
in written
oftheworldrecorded
documents.4
Rostow'sworkwasstillwidely
of whatwas seen as a new typeof class
influential
and the socialhistory
to be written.
The idea thatthelate eighteenth
societywas onlystarting
and early nineteenth
centurieswitnesseda significant
socioeconomic
remained
wellentrenched.'
discontinuity
In thelastdecadethegradualist
has appearedto triumph.
In
perspective
economichistoryit has done so largelybecauseof a preoccupation
with
at theexpenseofmorebroadlybasedconceptualizations
growth
accounting
havebeenproducedwhichillustrate
ofeconomicchange.New statistics
the
slowgrowthofindustrial
outputand grossdomesticproduct.Productivity
andinvestment
grewslowly;fixedcapitalproportions,
savings,
changedonly
emained
workers'
andtheirpersonal
gradually;
livingstandards
consumption
I Some of the argumentsin this articleappear in Berg, 'Revisionsand revolutions';and in Hudson,
We are verygrateful
to N. F. R. Craftsfordetaileddiscussionofthesubstance
ed., Regionsand industries.
of an earlierversion,and to seminargroupsat theInstituteof HistoricalResearch,London, theNorthern
Economic HistoriansGroup, Universityof Manchester,the Universityof Glasgow, the Universityof
Paris viii at St Denis, and the Universitiesof Oslo and Bergen.Althoughmanyof the argumentsin the
paper apply as much to Scotlandand Wales as to England, we confinediscussionin thispaper to the
industrialrevolutionin England in orderto avoid confusionwherethe existingliteratureis discussed.
2 For a broad surveyof this and othertrendsin the historiography
of the industrialrevolutionsee
Cannadine,'The past and the present'.
thetrendawayfrommorecataclysmic
interpretations
3Clapham is mostoftenassociatedwithinitiating
in Economichistory
of modern
Britain,but the shiftin emphasisis obviousin otherworksof the interwar
Heaton, 'Industrialrevolution';Redford,
period and earlier,e.g. Mantoux, The industrialrevolution;
revolutions;
George,Englandin transition.
Economichistory
ofEngland;Knowles,Industrialand commercial
4 Hobsbawm, Industry
and empire,p. I3.
class identifiedthe industrialrevolutionperiod as
5Thompson in his Making of theEnglishworking
growth,thoughchallengedover
the greatturningpoint in class formation.Rostow's Stages of economic
the precisefitbetweenthe model and Britishexperience,was a powerfulvoice in favourof significant
Landes in UnboundPrometheus
drew a convincingpicture
and unprecedentedeconomicdiscontinuity.
of the transformations
initiatedby technicalinnovation.

24

REHABILITATING

THE INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

25

largely unaffectedbefore I 830 and were certainlynot squeezed. The

macroeconomicindicatorsof industrialand social transformation
were not
presentand so the notionof industrialrevolutionhas been dethronedalmost
entirely
leavinginsteadonlya longprocessofstructural
changein employment
fromagrarianto non-agrarian
occupations.6
At the same time,and oftentakinga stronglead fromthe gradualismof
economichistoryinterpretations,
the social historyof the periodhas shifted
away fromanalysisof new class formations
and consciousness.7The postMarxian perspectivestressesthe continuitybetweeneighteenthand ninesocial protestand radicalism.Chartism,forexample,is seen
teenth-century
as a chronologicalextensionof the eighteenth-century
constitutional
attack
on Old Corruption.8
Late eighteenth-century
depressionsand theNapoleonic
of social tensionswhichare viewed
Wars are seen as the majorprecipitators
and selectiveeconomichardshipratherthanfrom
as arisingfromtemporary
anynewradicalcritiqueor alternative
politicaleconomy.9'The ancienregime
oftheconfessional
state'survivedtheeighteenth
and earlynineteenth
centuries
substantiallyunchanged.'0 In demography,the dominantexplanationof
the late eighteenth-century
populationexplosionstressesits continuity
with
a much earlier-established
demographicregimewhichremainedintactuntil
at least the I840s.11 And an influentialtendencyin the socio-cultural
of the last few yearshas argued that the English industrial
historiography
revolutionwas veryincomplete(if it existedat all) because the industrial
bourgeoisiefailedto gainpoliticaland economicascendancy.'2Thus England
neverexperienceda periodofcommitment
to industrialgrowth:theindustrial
in a great arch of continuitywhose
revolutionwas a brief interruption
economic and politicalbase remainedfirmlyin the hands of the landed
in metropolitan
and its offshoots
finance.Gentlemanly
aristocracy
capitalism
in the
prevailedand the power and influenceof industryand industrialists
Englisheconomyand societywere ephemeraland limited.'3
6 Crafts,Britisheconomic
growth.See also Harley, 'Britishindustrialization';
McCloskey,'Industrial
revolution';Feinstein,'Capital formationin GreatBritain';Lindertand Williamson,'English workers'
livingstandards'.More radical social and culturalchange is implied in some of the recentliterature
discussingincreasesin internalconsumption.See Brewer,McKendrick,and Plumb, Birthof consumer
But we concentrate
society.
hereon thegradualismof supplyside approachesin economichistorybecause
supplyside changesare vitalin underpinning
any changein aggregatedemand. The so-calledconsumer
revolutionof these years can only be understoodas part of a dynamicinterplaybetweenchanging
consumptionpatternsand the transformation
of employmentand production.
7 Characterized
by Thompson,Makingof theEnglishworking
class, and emphasizedby Foster,Class
struggle.
Chartism'.
8 StedmanJones,'Rethinking
9 Williams, 'Morals'; Stevenson,Popular disturbances,
pp. ii8, I52; Thomis, Luddites,ch. 2. For
and Randall, 'Comment';Randall, 'Philosophyof Luddism'.
critiquesof thisliteraturesee Charlesworth
For a balanced surveyof the debate on the 'moraleconomy',see Stevenson,'Moral economy'.
10The phraseis fromClark,Englishsocietywhichis heavilycriticalof the social historyof the I970S
and i98os. For a critiqueof his position,see Innes, 'JonathanClark'.
11 Wrigleyand Schofield,Populationhistory.
The argumentis summarizedin Wrigley,'Growthof
population'and in Smith,'Fertilityand economy'.
12 See Wiener, English culture;Anderson,'Figures of descent'; Cain and Hopkins, 'Gentlemanly
capitalism';Ingham,Capitalismdivided?;Leys, 'Formationof Britishcapital'. For the argumentthatthe
landed aristocracy
was an eliteclosed to new wealthsee Stone and Stone,Open elite?;Rubinstein,'New
men'.
13 Ibid. The term'great arch' is fromCorriganand Sayer, The greatarch althoughthis work itself
does not place exclusivestresson continuity.

26

MAXINE BERG

and PAT HUDSON

Though currentconsensus stronglyfavourscontinuityand gradualism,

contemporariesappear to have had littledoubt about the magnitudeand
industrialchange. In i8I4
importanceof changein the period,particularly
PatrickColquhoun wrote:
in GreatBritain
the progressof manufactures
It is impossibleto contemplate
Its rapidity,
withinthe last thirtyyearswithoutwonderand astonishment.
war,exceeds
of theFrenchrevolutionary
sincethecommencement
particularly
The improvement
of steamengines,but aboveall thefacilities
all credibility.
by
to the greatbranchesof the woollenand cottonmanufactories
afforded
bycapitaland skill,arebeyondall calculation
machinery,
invigorated
ingenious
applicableto silk,linen,hosieryand various
. . . thesemachinesare rendered
otherbranches.14
RobertOwen in i820 identifieda key turningpoint:
GreatBritain,
in particular,
It is wellknownthat,duringthelasthalfcentury
increaseditspowersof production,
beyondanyothernation,has progressively
introduced
in scientific
and arrangements,
improvements
by rapidadvancement
of productive
moreor less, intoall the departments
throughout
the
industry
15
empire.
And in i833 Peter Gaskellwroteof the social and politicalrepercussionsof
formingan imperiumum
economicchange,seeingworking-class
organizations
in imperio"of the mostobnoxiousdescription'.'6In i85I the OweniteJames
Hole wrotethat:
havemenbecometo pursue
Class standsopposedto class,and so accustomed
of thatof others,thatit
theirownisolatedinterests
apartfromand regardless
has becomean acknowledged
maxim,thatwhena manpursueshisowninterest
every
alonehe is mostbenefitting
society-amaxim. . . whichwouldjustify
crime'and folly.... The principleof supplyand demandhas been extended
but less
to men.These haveobtainedthereby
moreliberty,
fromcommodities
withthethraldom
ofFeudalismtheyhavetaken
bread.Theyfindthatin parting
in fact.17
has ceasedin namebutsurvived
on thatof Capital;thatslavery
but it has been obscured
Radical change was obvious to contemporaries
in particularhas been
in recenthistoriography,
and industrialperformance
traditionalpast. We argue here
viewed as an extensionof a pre-industrial
The nationalaccounts
thatthe industrialrevolutionshouldbe rehabilitated.
approach to economic growth and productivitychange is not a good
The
startingpoint forthe analysisof fundamentaleconomicdiscontinuity.
errorsof
measurementof growthusing thisapproachis proneto significant
estimationwhich arise fromthe restricteddefinitionof economicactivity,
fromthe incompletenature of the available data, and fromassumptions
embodiedin the analysis.We arguethatgrowthand productivity
changein
we
underestimated.
the period are currently
But, much more importantly,
stressthatgrowthrateson theirown are inadequateto thetaskofidentifying
and comprehendingthe industrial revolution. The current orthodoxy
14
15
16
17

Colquhoun, Treatiseon wealth,p. 68.

Owen, Reportto thecountyof Lanark, pp. 246-7.
populationof England,pp. 6-7.
Gaskell,Manufacturing
Hole, J., Lectureson social science,quoted in Briggs,Victoriancities,p. I40.

REHABILITATING

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INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

27

underplayseconomicand social transformation

because such developmentis
not amenable to studywithinthe frameof referenceof nationalaccounts
and aggregatestatistics.We examinefourareas in whichfundamentaland
unique change occurred during the industrialrevolution:technical and
organizational
innovationoutsidethefactory
sector,thedeployment
offemale
and childlabour,regionalspecialization,and demographicdevelopment.For
each area we identifyboth problems of underestimationand of the
measurementof fundamentalchange. We conclude by consideringthe
importanceforsocial and politicalhistoryof our reassessmentof the extent
in theseyears.
and natureof transformation

Unlike the earliernationalaccountsestimatesof Deane and Cole, recent

calculationsshow veryslow growthratesbeforethe i83os and particularly
in the last fourdecades of the eighteenth
century.Explanationsforthisslow
growthvaryconsiderablybut the workof Craftshas been the most widely
influentialin currentassumptionsabout the industrialrevolution.'8Crafts
calculatedthatchangein investment
proportionswas verygradualuntilthe
early nineteenthcentury and that total factor productivitygrowth in
was onlyaround0.2 per cent per annumbetweenI760 and
manufacturing
i8oi and 0.4 per centbetweeni8oi and i83I. Even totalfactorproductivity
growthacross the entire economy, inflatedin Crafts's opinion by the
of agriculture,
performance
grewveryslowly:0.2 per centper annum I760i8oi, 0.7 per cent i80i-3I, reachingi.o per cent onlyin the period I83II86o.19

Severalpointsabout thesegrowthratescould be made. Perhapsthe most

importantis that,althoughproductivity
growthappearsgradual,it was high
enoughto sustaina muchincreasedpopulationwhichunderearliereconomic
would have perished.Crafts,however,chooses to emphasize
circumstances
the poor showingof manufacturing,
arguingthat one small and atypical
in
which
accelerated
sector,cotton,
growth
sharply,accountedforas much
in
It was a modernsector
as half of all productivity
gains manufacturing.
overallimpact.
floatingin a sea of tradition,too small to have a significant
For mostof industry,he concluded,'not onlywas the triumphof ingenuity
slow to come to fruitionbut it does not seem appropriateto regard
innovativenessas pervasive'.20 We believe that this opinion rests on two
false assumptions.First, it is assumed that the innovativefactorysector
functionedindependently
of, and owed littleto, changesin the restof the
and service economy. Secondly,innovationis assumed to
manufacturing
18.
Deane and Cole, Britisheconomicgrowth;Crafts,Britisheconomicgrowth;Williamson,'Why was
Britisheconomicgrowthso slow?'; McCloskey,'The industrialrevolution'.WhereasCraftsstressesthe
Williamson
opportunities,
oftheeconomybecauseofa shortageofhighreturninvestment
lowproductivity
arguesthatthe industrialrevolutionwas crowdedout by theeffectofwar debtson civilianaccumulation.
For recentdebatebetweenthesetwoviewssee Crafts,'Britisheconomicgrowth';Williamson,'Debating';
Mokyr,'Has theindustrialrevolutionbeen crowdedout?'. See also Williamson,'Englishfactormarkets';
Heim and Morowski,'Interestrates'.
19 Crafts,Britisheconomic
growth,pp. 3I, 8i, 84.
20 Ibid., p. 87.

28

MAXINE BERG

and PAT HUDSON

ofcapital-intensive
plantand equipmentwhich
concernonlytheintroduction
has an immediatemeasurableimpact on productivity.
We returnto these
below but first
importantpointsabout economicdualism and productivity
brieflydeal withmeasurementproblemsof the nationalaccountsapproach
toundermine
periodwhichalonearesufficient
duringtheindustrialrevolution
confidencein the currentgradualistorthodoxy.
II
Industrialoutput and GDP are aggregateestimatesderived from the
weightedaverages of theircomponentswhich, as Craftshimselfadmits,
of assigning
involves 'a classic index numberproblem'.2' The difficulties
weightsto industrialand othersectorsof the economy,allowingforchanges
in weightsover time and for the effectsof differential
price changes and
value-addedchangesin thefinalproduct,are insurmountable
and willalways
involvewide marginsof potentialerror.Errorsin turnbecomemagnifiedin
residualcalculationslike thatof productivity
growth.22
At the root of problemsconcerningthe compositionof the economyby
sector in the national accounting frameworkare the new social and
occupationaltablesof Lindertand Williamsonupon whichCraftsand others
rely.23These give a higherprofileto the industrialsectorthan the earlier
social structureestimatesof King, Massie, and Colquhounand fitwell with
But the latitude
currentworkon the importanceof proto-industrialization.
for potentialerrorin these tables is great. Lindert himselfhas cautioned
that for the large occupational groupingsof industry,agriculture,and
commerceerrormarginscould be as highas 6o per centwhileestimatesfor
shoemakers,carpenters,and othersare 'littlemorethanguesses'.24Lindert
and Williamsonrelyon theburialrecordsofadultmalesas theirmainsource
of occupationalinformation.Yet women and childrenwere a vital and
workforceduringthe proto-industrial
growingpillar of the manufacturing
of allowingfordual and
difficulties
and earlyindustrialperiods.The further
of
with
and
dealing
descriptionslike 'labourer',which
tripleoccupations,
give no indicationof sector,suggestthatno reliablesectoralbreakdownfor
labourinputscan be made. Beforethe 1831 census,and withoutthe benefit
of much more research,not only are sectoraldistributionslikely to be
erroneous,but they are particularlylikely to underestimatethe role of
growingsections of the labour force and of the vitallyimportant,often
innovative,overlapsbetweenagrarianand industrialoccupations.
Nor are the industrialmacrodataparticularlyrobust. Many of Crafts's
derivedfrom
estimatesof sectoroutputsand inputsrelyon usingmultipliers
a handfulof examplesand only a sample of industriesis used. This omits
21 Ibid., p. I7.
22

Jackson,'Governmentexpenditure';Mokyr, 'Has the industrialrevolutionbeen crowded out?',

p. 306.

Lindertand Williamson,'RevisingEngland's social tables'; Lindert,'English occupations'.

fromrural
ruralnon-agricultural
Ibid., p. 70I; Wrigleyalso uses theseestimates,and distinguishes
of estimatesforagricultural
agriculturalpopulation.Note, however,that he emphasizesthe fallibility
populationbeforei8oo. See Wrigley,'Urban growthand agriculturalchange',p. i69.
23
24

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

29

increasein the economy:

potentially
vitalsourcesof outputand productivity
for example, food processing,metal wares, distilling,lead, furniture,
The
coachmaking,and new industrieslike chemicals and engineering.25
of industryas a whole
sectorswhichare includedshould be representative
but in fact the sample is heavilybiased in favourof finishedratherthan
goods. Changein thenatureand uses ofrawand semi-processed
intermediate
materialinputsprobablyresultsin bias because majorsourcesof innovation
in the economyare neglected.26
In attemptingto measure the size and natureof the servicesectorthe
encountersa virtuallyimpossibletask. Crafts
macro accountingframework
in the servicesector
is forcedto relyon the assumptionthatproductivity
increased no more than in industry.Behind this lies the even more
problematicassumptionthatthe servicesectorexpandedat the same rateas
in line withwhatlittlewe knowabout
populationbeforei8oi and thereafter
rents, (central) governmentexpenditure,and the growth of the legal
of the servicesectorexcludesdirectevidence
profession.Crafts'streatment
of what was happeningin transport,financialservices,retailand wholesale
trades,professionsotherthanthe law (iinotherwords,whatwas happening
to transactions
costs), to say nothingof personaland leisureservices.27And
furthercontroversysurroundsCrafts's estimatesof agriculturaloutput
because he relies on inferencesfromquestionableestimatesof population
growth,agriculturalincomes,prices,and incomeelasticities.28
Large areas of economicactivityhave of courseleftno availablesourceof
quantitativedata at all. Even in the twentiethcenturynational income
accounting,whenused as an indicatorofnationaleconomicactivity,involves
but these are magnifiedin earlier
major problems of underestimation,
applicationsbecause so mucheconomicactivitywas embeddedin unquantifiThe problemsofthenational
able and unrecordednon-market
relationships.29
for periods of fundamental
are
further
compounded
approach
accounting
economicchangebecause the proportionof totalindustrialand commercial
activityshowingup in the estimatesis likelyto changeradicallyover time.
If, as seems likely,entrythresholdsin mostindustrieswere low, industrial
expansionmighttake place firstand foremostamong a myriadsmall firms
is lost to historianswho
whichhave leftfewrecordsand whosecontribution
confinethemselvesto easily available indices. Finally, price data for the
growth,pp. I7-27; Hoppit, 'Counting',p. i82.
Crafts,Britisheconomic
chs. II, I2; Rowlands, Mastersand men;
Hudson, Genesis,ch. 6; Berg, Age of manufactures,
Sigsworth,Black DykeMills, ch. I.
27
expenditure';
Hoppit, 'Counting',pp. I82-3; Price,'Whatdo merchantsdo?'; Jackson,'Government
idem,'Structureof pay'.
28
Crafts,Britisheconomicgrowth,pp. 38-44; Mokyr, 'Has the industrialrevolutionbeen crowded
out?'.,pp. 305-I2; Jackson,'Growthand deceleration';Hoppit, 'Counting',p. i83. Crafts,however,was
certainenoughof theseand of his otherestimatesto writein i989 'The dimensionsof economicchange
in Britainduringthe IndustrialRevolutionare now reliablymeasured.A numberof features. . . are
research';Crafts,'Britishindustrialization
likelyto be subjectto onlyminorrevisionas a resultof further
context',p. 4i6.
in an international
pp. 27-36;
29 For discussionsof the problemsof nationalincomeaccountingsee Hawke, Economics,
of growth,passim. For discussionof the embeddednessof economicactivitysee
Usher, Measurement
Polanyi, ed., Trade and market,pp. 239-306; Douglas and Isherwood, World of goods; Beneria,
'Conceptualisingthe labour force'.
25

26

30

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

eighteenthcenturyare sparse and highlypartial. This creates a problem

because the nationalaccountsframework
across
requiresprice information
the board to calculatevalue added in each sector.
These considerations
togetherprecludedrawingfirmconclusionsfromthe
availableand suggestthatthe bias theycontainis likely
estimatescurrently
of productionand productivity
in the secondary
to resultin underestimation
and tertiarysectorsof the economy.
In thisconnectionit is worthnotingthatCrafts'srecentstatisticalanalysis
of industrialoutput series for Britain,Italy, Hungary,Germany,France,
Russia, and AustriashowsthatBritainand Hungarywerethe onlycountries
to exhibita prolongedperiodof increaseof trendrateofgrowthin industrial
In the light of the
productionduring the process of industrialization.30
qualitativeevidence of the extentand speed of change in Germanyand
Russia in particular,this findingsuggestseitherthat the macro estimates
are farfromaccurateand/orthatpayingundue attentionto changesin the
trendratesof growthat the nationallevel is not a helpfulstartingpointfor
or understanding
economictransformation.
identifying
III
in
Aggregativestudiesare dogged by an inbuiltproblemof identification
posingquestionsabout the existenceof an industrialrevolution.As Mokyr
has pointedout in the Englishcase:
whichgrewslowlyweremechanising
and switching
to factories
Someindustries
likesoapandcandles)whileconstruction
(e.g.paperafteri 8oi, woolandchemicals
ruledsupreme
withfewexceptions
and coal miningin whichmanualtechniques
untildeepin thenineteenth
rates.31
century,
grewat respectable
Clearlytechnicalprogressis notgrowthand rapidgrowthdoes noteverywhere
of productionfunctions.Can we justifyusing
imply the revolutionizing
manufacturing
high aggregateinvestmentratios, high factorproductivity
techniques,and theirimmediateinfluenceon the formalGDP indicatorsas
In answeringthis
our yardstickof industrialinnovationand transformation?
question, we need to look more closely at the model of industrialization
whichunderpinsmuch currentanalysis.
of the industrialrevolutionrelyon an analytical
The new interpretations
divide between the traditionaland modern sectors: mechanized factory
withhighproductivity
on theone hand,and a widespreadtraditional
industry
industrialand servicesectorbackwateron the other. It is argued that the
large size of the traditionalsector, combined with primitivetechnology,
made it a drag on productivity
growthin the economyas a whole.32But it
is notclearhowhelpfulthisdivideis in understanding
theeconomicstructure
30
This analysisemploysthe Kalman filterto eliminatethe problemof false periodizationand to
distinguishbetweentrendchangesand the effectof cyclesof activity.See Crafts,Leybourne,and Mills,
'Britain'; idem,'Trends and cycles'.
31 Mokyr,'Has the industrialrevolution
been crowdedout?', p. 3I4.
32
pp. 5-6; Crafts,
revolution,
growth,
ch. 2; Mokyr,Economicsof theindustrial
Crafts,Britisheconomic
'Britishindustrialization'.

REHABILITATING

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INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

3I

and earlynineteenth-century
England.33In
or the dynamismof eighteenthreality,it is impossibleto make clear-cutdivisionsbetweenthe traditional
and the modern as there were rarely separate organizationalforms,
technologies,locations,or firmsto be ascribedto either.Eighteenth-and
cottonmanufacturers,
servingdomesticas well as foreign
nineteenth-century
spinningin factorieswithlargemarkets,typicallycombinedsteam-powered
scale employmentof domestichandloomweaversand oftenkept a mix of
powered and domestichand weaving long afterthe powered technology
becameavailable.This patternwas a functionofriskspreading,theproblems
of earlytechnology,and the cheap labour supplyof womenand childrenin
Thus fordecades the 'modern'sectorwas actuallybolsteredby,
particular.34
and derivedfromthe 'traditional'sector,and not the reverse.
Artisans in the metal-workingsectors of Birminghamand Sheffield
frequentlycombinedoccupationsor changedthem over theirlife cycle in
such a way that they too could be classifiedin both the traditionaland
modern sectors.35Artisan woollen workersin West Yorkshireclubbed
togetherto build millsforcertainprocessesand thushad a footin both the
modernand traditionalcamps. These so-called'companymills'underpinned
Thus the traditionaland the modern
the success of the artisanstructure.36
were most often inseparable and mutuallyreinforcing.Firms primarily
diversified
into metal processingventuresas
concernedwith metalworking
a way of generatingsteadyraw materialsupplies. This and othercases of
verticalintegration
providemore examplesof the tail of 'tradition'wagging
the dog of 'modernity'.37
The non-factory,
supposedlystagnantsector,oftenworkingprimarilyfor
domesticmarkets,pioneeredextensiveand radicaltechnicaland organizational
change not recognizedby the revisionists.The classic textileinnovations
were all developed withina rural and artisanindustry;the artisanmetal
handprocesses,handtools,and newmalleable
tradesdevelopedskill-intensive
alloys. The wool textile sector moved to new products which reduced
finishingtimes and revolutionizedmarketing.New formsof putting-out,
wholesaling,retailing,creditand debt,and artisanco-operationweredevised
in the face of the new
as ways of retainingthe essentialsof older structures
morecompetitiveand innovativeenvironment.
Customarypracticesevolved
to matchtheneeds ofdynamicand market-orientated
production.The result
33 The use of a two-sector
of development
modelofindustrialchangeis reminiscent
traditional/modern
economics during the I950s and i96os which looked to a policy of accelerated and large-scale
throughpromotionof the modernsectoras a spearheadforthe restof the economy.
industrialization
of thediverseand dependentlinkagesbetween
This divisionwas abandonedin the I970S withrecognition
the 'formal'and 'informal'and betweenthe 'traditional'and 'modern'sectors,yetit has gainedrenewed
prominencein economichistory.See Moser, 'Informalsector',p. I052; Toye, Dilemmasin development.
For fullerdiscussionof parallelideas in developmenteconomics,see Berg, 'Revisionsand revolutions',
of the dynamismof the smallfirmsectorsee Sabel and Zeitlin,
pp. 5i-6. For a particularinterpretation
'Historicalalternatives',pp. I42-56; also Berg, 'On the origins'.
34 See, forexample, Lyons, 'Lancashirecottonindustry'.
35 Berg, 'Revisions and revolutions',pp. 56, 59; idem,Age of manufactures,
chs. II I2; Sabel and
Zeitlin, 'Historical alternatives',pp. I46-50; Lyons, 'Vertical integration';Berg, 'Commerce and

creativity',
pp. I90-5.

capital,pp. 70-80; idem,'From manorto mill'.

Hudson, Genesisof industrial
Wadsworthand Mann, Cottontrade; Hamilton,
woollenand worstedindustry;
Heaton, Yorkshire
of southWales.
John,Industrialdevelopment
Englishbrassand copperindustries;
36

37

32

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

was considerabletransformation
even withinthe framework
of the so-called
traditionalsector.
The revisionists
arguethatmostindustriallabourwas to be foundin those
occupations which experiencedlittle change.38But the food and drink
trades,shoemaking,tailoring,blacksmithing,
and tradescateringforluxury
consumptionsuccessfullyexpanded and adapted to provide the essential
urbanserviceson whichtownlife,and hence much of centralizedindustry,
was dependent.Furthermore,
earlyindustrialcapitalformation
and enterprise
typicallycombinedactivityin the food and drinkor agricultural
processing
tradeswithmoreobviouslyindustrialactivities,
creatinginnumerable
external
economies.39This was true in metal manufacturein Birminghamand
Sheffieldwhereinnkeepersand victuallerswere commonlymortgageesand
In the south Lancashiretool
joint ownersof metal workingenterprises.40
tradesPeter Stubs was not untypicalwhen he firstappeared in I788 as a
tenantof the WhiteBear Inn in Warrington.Here he combinedthe activity
of innkeeper,maltster,and brewerwiththatof filemakerusing the carbon
in barm bottoms(barrel dregs) to strengthen
the files.41There are many
and industry.
examplesof thiskind of overlapbetweenservices,agriculture,
These were the norm in business practiceat a time when entrepreneurs'
to spreadthroughdiversification
of portfoliosand where
riskswere difficult
so much could be gained fromthe externaleconomiescreated by these
overlaps.
We do not suggesthere thatproductivity
growthat the rate experienced
in cottontextileswas achievedelsewhere,but thatthe successof cottonand
othermajorexportswas intimately
relatedto and dependentuponinnovations
in otherbranchesof the primary,secondary,
and radical transformations
and tertiary
sectors.Dividingoffthe modernfromthe traditionalsectorsis
an analyticaldevice which hides more than it reveals in attemptingto
understandthe dynamicsof changein the industrialrevolution.

IV
More questionablethan theirassumptionof the separatenessand dependence of the traditionalsectoris the revisionists'evaluationof productivity
of the
changein the economyat this time. Throughoutthe historiography
measureshave seldombeen clearlydefined,
industrialrevolutionproductivity
thelimitations
ofmeasureshave rarelybeen explained,and figuresoflimited
have been produced and widely accepted on trust. Total
meaningfulness
factorproductivity
(TFP) is the measuremost used by Craftsand others
was slow to growin
and its use has led themto concludethatproductivity
the period. TFP is usuallycalculatedas a residualafterthe rate of growth
of factorinputshas been subtractedfromthe rate of growthof GDP.
38 Crafts,
p. 69; Wrigley,People,citiesand wealth,pp. I33-57; idem,Continuity,
Britisheconomic
growth,
chanceand change,p. 84.
39 Jones,'Environment';
Burley,'Essex clothier';Chapman,'Industrialcapital'; Mathias,'Agriculture
and brewing'.
40
p. i83.
Berg, 'Commerceand creativity',
pp. 4-5.
industrialist,
41 Ashton,Eighteenth
century

REHABILITATING

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INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

33

There are severalmajor problemswiththe TFP measure.First,TFP as

a residualcalculationis heavilyaffectedby any mistakesin the estimation
of sectoraloutputsand factorinputs.If the originalsectorweightingswere
wrong,TFP estimatesmaybe highlydistorted.Big differences
in TFP may
also arise fromvariationsin the estimatedgrowthof GDP. Secondly,if
factorreallocationfromsectorswith low marginalproductivities
to those
withhighones was an important
featureof theperiod,it will notbe possible
to derive reliable economy-widerates of TFP growthsimplyby takinga
weightedaverageacross sectors.The effectsof factorreallocationmust be
incorporated.42
Thirdly,TFP embodiesa numberof restrictive
assumptions
rarelyacknowledgedby those who use the measure. These are perfect
mobilityof factors,perfectcompetition,
neutraltechnicalprogress,constant
returnsto scale, and parametricprices.43The eighteenth-century
economy
did not matchthese assumptions.For example,the assumptionof neutral
technicalprogressis suspect in view of the evidenceof long-termlaboursavingtechnicalchange. So too are assumptionsof constantreturnsto scale
when set against evidence of increasingreturns;TFP calculationsshould
allow forimperfect
competitionand changingelasticitiesof productdemand
and factorinputs.44Assumptionsof fullemploymentof labour and capital
and of perfectmobilityare also inappropriate.Movementof populationwas
often not a response to shortagesof labour in industry;indeed many
industrialsectors came to be characterizedby flooded labour markets,
particularlyfor the less skilled tasks. These were paralleled by massive
immobilepools ofagricultural
labourin manysouthernand midlandcounties.
was endemicand chronicunder-utilization
Structuralunemployment
of both
labour and capitalwas aggravatedby seasonal and cyclicalswings.45
TFP takesno accountofinnovationin thenatureofoutputs
Furthermore,
or of changein the qualityof inputs,yetwe know thatboth were marked
featuresof the period. On the input side, labour needs to be adjusted in
TFP calculationsforchangesin age, sex, education,skill, and intensityof
work. Output per workeris also affectedby changesin the relativepower
of employersto extractwork effortand in the power of employeesto
withholdit.46Similarly,materialinputswerechangingconstantly
as product
innovationaffectedthe natureof raw materialsand intermediate
goods as
wellas finalproducts.The smallmetaltradeswerea case in point:innovation
entailednot poweredmechanizationbut the introductionof niewproducts
and the substitutionof cheap alloys forpreciousmetalsas raw material.47
42
I2.

Williamson,'Debating', p.

270;

Mokyr,'Has theindustrialrevolutionbeen crowdedout?', pp.

305-

Link, Technological
change,pp. I5-20.
Eichengreen,'What have we learned?',pp. 29-30; Link, Technological
change,p. I4. For discussion
ch. 6; David,
of evidenceof labour-savingtechnicalchange,see Rosenberg,Perspectives
on technology,
Technicalchoice,ch. I; Field, 'Land abundance,interest/profit
rates',p. 4I I; Stoneman,Economicanalysis
oftechnological
change,pp. I 56-67.For evidenceand discussionofincreasingreturns,see David, Technical
choice,chs. 2, 6.
45 Eichengreen,'Causes of Britishbusinesscycles'; Allen, Enclosure,
ch. I2; Hunt, 'Industrialisation
and regionalinequality'.
46 Link, Technological
change,p. 24; Eichengreen,'What have we learned?',pp. 29-30; Elbaum and
Lazonick, Declineof theBritisheconomy,
pp. I-I7; Lazonick, 'Social organisation',p. 74.
47 Berg,Age of manufactures,
chs. II, I2; Rowlands,Mastersand men.
43

44

34

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

in consumption
patternsand habits.48
Productinnovationfuelleda revolution
But because the nationalaccountsframeworkmeasuresthe replicationof
goods and services,it cannot easily incorporateeitherthe appearance of
entirelynew goods not presentat the startof a timeseriesor improvements
frustrate
overtimein the qualityof goods or services.New productsfurther
effortsat productivityestimationbecause the initialprices of new goods
wereusuallyveryhighbut declinedrapidlyas innovationproceeded,making
the calculationof both weightsand value-addeda majorproblem.49
calculations
Finally, the national accounts frameworkand productivity
in the means of production
cannot measure that qualitativeimprovement
whichcan yieldshorterworkinghoursor less arduousor monotonouswork
routines.50 Clearly, a broader concept of technologicalchange and of
innovationis required than can be accommodatedby national income
accounting.If the mostsensibleway to view the courseof economicchange
is throughthe timingand impactof innovation,it is arguablethatthe use
of nationalaccountinghas frustrated
progress.Emphasishas been placed on
at theexpenseofscience,economicorganization,
savingand capitalformation
the knacks
skills,dexterity,
new productsand processes,marketcreativity,
and otheraspectsof economiclifewhich
and workpracticesof manufacture,
may be innovativebut have no place in the accountingcategories.5'
The problemsinvolvedin measuringeconomy-wide
productivity
growth,
and in regardingit as a reflectionof the extentof fundamentaleconomic
change,are compoundedwhen one considersthe natureboth of industrial
capital and of industriallabour in the period. Redeploymentof labour
fromagrarian-basedand domesticsectorsto urban and more centralized
manufacturing
activitymay well have been accompaniedby diminishing
in the shortrun. Green labour had to learn industrial
labour productivity
skillsas well as new formsof disciplinewhile,withinsectors,labour often
shiftedinto processeswhich were more ratherthan less labour-intensive.
The same tendencyto low returnsin the shorttermcan be seen in capital
in theperiod.Earlysteamenginesand machinery
investment
wereimperfect
and subjectto breakdownsand rapidobsolescence.Grosscapitalinvestment
whenfed
figures(whichincludefundsspenton renewalsand replacements),
into productivity
of the importanceand
measures,are not a good reflection
potentialof technologicalchangein the period. Rapid technologicalchange
is capitalhungryas newequipmentsoonbecomesobsolescentand is replaced.
Shiftsin the aggregatemeasuresof productivity
growthare thus actually
less likelyto showup as significant
duringperiodsof rapidand fundamental
economictransition
thanin periodsofslowerand morepiecemealadjustment.
This pointwas stressedby Hicks who notedthatthelonggestationperiod
of technologicalinnovationmight yield Ricardo's machineryeffect:the
returnsfrommajor shiftsin technologywould not be apparentforseveral
wouldonlyincreaseunemployment
decadesand, in theshortterm,innovation
Brewer,McKendrick,and Plumb, Birthof a consumer
society;Breen, 'Baubles of Britain'.
Usher,Measurement,
pp. 8-io.
50
Ibid., p. 9.
51Ibid., p. io.

48
49

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

35

and put downwardpressure on wages.52There was such a disjuncture

betweenthe wave of innovationssurrounding
the electricdynamoin thelate
nineteenthcenturyand an accelerationin the growthof GNP. And the
currentcomputerrevolutionwhichis transforming
production,services,and
workinglives across a broad frontis not accompaniedby rapidlyrising
withinnationaleconomies.Resolvingthis
income,output,or productivity
apparent'productivity
paradox' involvesrecognizingthe limitednatureof
TFP as a measureof economicperformance
and the longtime-frame
needed
to connect fundamentaltechnologicalchange with productivity
growth.53
Thus, just as it is possible to have growthwithlittlechange,it is possible
to have radicalchangewithlimitedgrowth.In factthe more revolutionary
the changetechnologically,
socially,and culturally,the longerthismaytake
to workout in termsof conventionalmeasuresof economicperformance.
V

Anotherstrikingfeatureof the new orthodoxyis its restricteddefinition

oftheworkforce;
thisin turnhas implicationsfortheanalysisofproductivity
change as well as the standard of living debate. Wrigleyassessed key
productivitygrowthonly throughthe IO per cent of adult male labour
which,in i83I, workedin industriesservingdistantmarkets.Williamson's
documentationof inequalityand Lindert and Williamson'ssurveyof the
standard of living considered only adult male incomes while Lindert's
estimatesforindustrialoccupationsreliedon adult burialrecordswhichare
almost exclusivelymale. But the role of women and childrenin both
capital and labour intensivemarket-orientated
manufacturing
(in both the
'traditional'and the 'modern' sectors) probably reached a peak in the
industrialrevolution,makingit a unique periodin this respect.54
to quantifythe extentof femaleand child labour
It is extremelydifficult
as both were largelyexcluded fromofficialstatisticsand even fromwage
books. But analyses based only on adult male labour forcesare clearly
forthisperiod. On the supplyside the
inadequateand peculiarlydistorting
labourof womenand childrenwas a vitalpillarof householdincomes,made
more so by the populationgrowthand hence the age structureof the later
reducedthe proportionof males of
eighteenthcenturywhich substantially
52
question,
ch. 4. If patentingcan be taken
p. I53; Berg,Machinery
history,
Hicks, Theoryof economic
thenwe have some evidencethatgrowthof TFP in nineteenthas a roughindicationof inventiveness,
centuryEngland took place some 40 years afterthe accelerationof inventivepatentableactivity.See
revolution.
theindustrial
Sullivan,'England's "age of invention"',p. 444; Macleod, Inventing
53 David, 'The computerand the dynamo'.
54 Wrigley,Continuity,
chance and change,pp. 83-7; Williamson,Did Britishcapitalism?,passim;
pp. 4-5. In
growth,
Lindertand Williamson,'Englishworkers'livingstandards';Crafts,Britisheconomic
the woollenindustrywomen's and children'slabour accountedfor 75 per cent of the workforce,and
child labourexceededthatof womenand of men. Women and childrenalso predominatedin the cotton
industry;childrenunder I3 made up 20 per cent of the cottonfactoryworkforcein i8i6; thoseunder
female,and
i8, 5I.2 per cent. The silk, lace making,and knittingindustrieswere also predominantly
suchas theBirmingham
ofwomenand childrenin metalmanufactures
therewereevenhigherproportions
trades. See Randall, BeforetheLuddites,p. 6o; Nardinelli,'Child labour'; Berg, 'Women's work', pp.
70-3; Pinchbeck,Womenworkers,
passim; Saito, 'Otherfaces',p. i83; idem,'Labour supplybehaviour',
see Cunningham,
pp. 636 and 646. For a recentcriticaldiscussionof child labour and unemployment
passim.
'Employmentand unemployment',

36

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

workingage in the population.55The impactof the high dependencyratio

in
was cushionedby childrenearningtheirway at an earlyage, particularly
On the demand side the need for hand skills,
domesticmanufacturing.56
and workdisciplineencouragedthe absorptionof moreand more
dexterity,
femaleand juvenilelabour into commercialproduction.This was further
in wages which may have been increasing
encouragedby sex differentials
underthe impactof demographicpressurein theseyears.57Employerswere
much attractedby low wages and long hours at a time when no attention
ofpaymentby resultsor shorterhours.58
was yetpaid to theincentiveeffects
Thus factorsboth on the supply and on the demand side of the labour
marketresultedin a labour forcestructurewith high proportionsof child
and femaleworkers.They were the key elementsin the labour intensity,
and low productioncostsfoundin late eighteentheconomicdifferentiation,
centuryindustries.And this in turn influencedand was influencedby
innovation.New workdisciplines,new formsof subcontracting
and puttingout networks,new factoryorganization,and even new technologieswere
triedout initiallyon womenand children.59
The peculiar importanceof youthlabour in the industrialrevolutionis
in severalinstancesoftextileand othermachinery
beingdesigned
highlighted
The spinningjennywas a celebratedcase;
and builtto suitthe childworker.
the originalcountryjennyhad a horizontalwheel requiringa posturemost
forchildrenaged nineto twelve.Indeed, fora time,in the very
comfortable
earlyphases of mechanizationand factoryorganizationin the woollen and
silkindustriesas well as in cotton,it was generallybelievedthatchildlabour
was integralto textilemachine design.60This associationbetween child
labour and machinerywas confinedto a fairlybriefperiodof technological
United States it appears to have lasted from
change. In the north-eastern
c. i8I2 until the i83os, duringwhich time the proportionof women and
labour forcerose fromIO to 40 per
childrenin the entiremanufacturing
cent. This was associatedwithnew large-scaletechnologiesand divisionsof
labour specifically
designedto dispensewithmoreexpensiveand restrictive
skilled adult male labour.6' Similarly,the employmentof an increasing
proportionof femalelabour in English industrieswas also encouragedby
the readyreservesof cheap and skilledfemalelabour whichhad long been
a featureof domesticand workshopproduction.In addition,in England,
the process of
many agriculturalregionsshed femaleworkersfirst--during
55 Childrenaged 5-I4 probablyaccountedforbetween23 and 25 per cent of the totalpopulationin
the early nineteenthcentury,comparedwith 6 per cent in I95I. Wrigleyand Schofield,Population
history,
tab. A3.I, PP. 528-9.
56 Berg,Ageofmanufactures,
ch. 6; Medick,'Proto-industrial
familyeconomy';Levine,'Industrialisation
and the proletarianfamily',p. I77.
57 Saito, 'Other faces', p. i83; idem,'Labour supplybehaviour',p. 634.
58 Hobsbawm, 'Custom, wages and workload',pp. 353, 355.
59 Berg, 'Women's work', pp. 76-88; Pinchbeck,Womenworkers.
For modernThird World parallels
see Elson and Pearson, 'Nimble fingersand foreigninvestments',
pp. 2-3; Pearson, 'Female workers'.
60 Report. . . on thestateof children
on the
(P.P. i8i6, III), pp. 279, 343; ReportfromtheCommittee
bill to regulatethe labourof childrenin the millsand factories(P.P. i83I-2, XV), P. 254. The issue is
exploredin greaterdepth in Berg, 'Women's work'.
61 Goldin and Sokoloff,
p. 747; Goldin,'Economic statusof
'Women, childrenand industrialization',
women'.

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

37

agriculturalchange,and much migrationwithinruralareas and fromrural

to urban areas consistedof youngwomenin searchof work.62
By mid centuryfemale and child labour was decliningin importance
througha mixtureof legislation,the activitiesof male tradeunionists,and
pervasiveideologyof the male breadwinnerand of fitand
the increasingly
proper female activities.63A patriarchalstance was by this time also
compatiblewith the economic aims of a broad spectrumof employers.
Accordingto Hobsbawm, largerscale employers(as well as male labour)
werelearningthe 'rules of the game' in whichhigherpayments(by results),
shorterworkinghours,and a negotiatedterrainof commoninterestscould
be substitutedforextensivelow-wageexploitationwithbeneficialeffectson
productivity.

The use of low-costchild and femalelabour was not, of course, new: it

had always been vital in the primarysectorand had been integralto the
spread of manufacturein the earlymodernperiod. What was new in the
periodof the classicindustrialrevolutionwas the extentof its incorporation
into rapidly expanding factoryand workshop manufacturingand its
of work, and labour
associationwith low wages, increasedintensification
undoubtedlyhad an impact
discipline.65The femaleand juvenileworkforce
on the outputfiguresper unit of input costs in manyindustries,but this
because some
would not necessarilybe reflectedin aggregateproductivity
femalelabour was a substituteformale: it increasedat timesand in sectors
high.66The social costs
wheremale wages werelow or male unemployment
in
transfer
through.poor
male
labour
payments
(felt high
of underutilized
of allowing for male unemploymentin
relief)as well as the difficulties
sectoralweightingsare likely to offsetgains in the measurableeconomic
oftheeconomy
indicatorsoftheperiod.The potentialeconomicperformance
limitedby the lack of incentiveto substitutecapital
as a whole was further
forlabourwhenthe labourof womenand childrenwas so abundant,cheap,
and disciplinedthroughfamilyworkgroupsand in theabsenceof traditions
of solidarity.67
The full effectsof this expandedrole of femaleand juvenilelabour can
62
Pollard,'Labour', p. I33; Bythell,Sweatedtrades;Berg, 'Women's work'; Allen,Enclosure,ch. I2;
Snell, Annals, chs. I and 4; Souden, 'East, west-home's best?', p. 307; cf. Williamson,Copingwith
citygrowth.
ch. 6; Seccombe, 'Emergenceof male breadwinner';Rose,
63 Lown, Womenand industrialization,
Harrison,'Class and gender',pp. I22-38, I45;
'Genderantagonism';Davidoffand Hall, Familyfortunes;
Roberts,Women'swork.
64
Hobsbawm, 'Custom, wages and workload',p. 36i.
65
families,
Levine, 'Industrialisationand the proletarianfamily',pp. I75-9; Levine, Reproducing
regionsis
economiesof the industrializing
pp. II2-5. The low wage characterof the export-orientated
pp. 937-45.
pp. I3I, I36-4I. See also Hunt, 'Industrialisation',
by Lee, TheBritisheconomy,
highlighted
Mokyr,echoingMarx, suggeststhatlow wagesmayhave been a keyfactorbehindthegrowthof modern
hours,
industry:'Has the industrialrevolutionbeen crowdedout?', p. 3i8. See also Bienefeld,Working
p. 4I. For parallelswiththe Third World see Pearson, 'Female workers'.
hypothesis'.
'Relativeproductivity
66 Saito,'Labour supplybehaviour',pp. 645-6;Goldinand Sokoloff,
of thissee Mincer,'Labour forceparticipation',and
For a standardtheoreticaland empiricaltreatment
Greenhalgh,'A labour supply function'.The male occupationalstatisticsupon which productivity
estimatesrely,necessarilytake no accountof unemployment.
ch. I2; Boyer, 'Old poor law'; Lyons,
67 Lewis, 'Economic development',p. 404; Allen, Enclosure,
'The Lancashirecottonindustry';Berg, 'Women's work'.

38

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

only be completelyunderstoodat a disaggregatedlevel by analysingits

impact upon sectorsand in regionswhere it was cruciallyimportant.A
regionalperspectiveis also uniquely valuable in assessingthe extentand
natureof economicand social changein the period.
VI
The industrialrevolutionwas a periodof greatdisparityin regionalrates
regionswere
of change and economicfortunes.Expandingindustrializing
of
matchedby regionsof decliningindustry,and chronicunderutilization
agriculturewas similarly
labour and capital. The storyof commercializing
patchy.Slow-moving
aggregateindicatorsfailto capturethesedevelopments,
and self-reinforcing
drivecreatedby the developmentof
yetthe interactions
industryin markedregionalconcentrations
gave rise to major innovations.
For example,an increasein the outputof the Britishwool textilesectorby
centuryseems verymodest but
I50 per cent duringthe entireeighteenth
this conceals the dramaticrelocationtakingplace in favourof Yorkshire,
whose sharein nationalproductionrose fromaround20 per centto around
6o per cent in the course of the century.If the increasehad been uniform
in all regions,it could have been achievedsimplyby the gradualextension
commercialmethodsand productionfunctions.But Yorkshire's
oftraditional
embodieda revolution
in organizational
intensivegrowthnecessarily
patterns,
commerciallinks, credit relationships,the sorts of cloths produced, and
productiontechniques.The externaleconomiesachievedwhen one region
took over more than halfof the productionof an entiresectorwere also of
key importance.68
All the expanding industrialregions of the late eighteenthand early
nineteenthcenturieswere, like the West Riding, dominatedby particular
sectorsin a way neverexperiencedbeforenor to be experiencedagain after
the growthof intra-sectoral
century.
spatialhierarchiesduringthe twentieth
sectoralspecializationand regionalintegrity
togetherhelp to
Furthermore,
explain the emergenceof regionallydistinctivesocial and class relations
which set a patternin English political life for over a century.These
considerationspromptthe view thatregionalstudiesmay be of more value
in understanding
the processof industrialization
thanstudiesof the national
economyas a whole.69
The main justification
which Craftsuses for employingan aggregative
approachto identifythe nature,causes, and corollariesof industrialization
in Britainis that the nationaleconomyrepresented,formanyproducts,a
well integratednational goods marketby the early nineteenthcentury.
Althoughthe spread of fashionableconsumergoods was increasingand
nationalmarketsformuchbulk agricultural
producewereestablishedbefore
the mid eighteenthcentury,it cannotbe shownbeforethe second quarter
of the nineteenthcenturythatthe economyhad a 'fairlywell integratedset
68

The argumenthere and throughoutthis sectionis much influencedby Pollard,Peacefulconquest,

ch. I.

69 Fuller discussionof this can be found in Hudson, Regions,ch. i. For anotherexample of this
of Tyneside.
approachsee Levine and Wrightson,The making,on the earliertransformation

REHABILITATING

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INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

39

of factormarkets'.
70 The reallyimportant
spatialunitforproductionfactors,
especiallycapitaland labour,and forinformation
flow,commercialcontacts,
and credit networksin the pre-railwayperiod was the economic region,
which was oftenclearlyidentifiable.7'Constructionof the improvedriver
and canal systemson whicheconomicgrowthdependeddid muchto endorse
the existenceof regionaleconomies,fora timeincreasingtheirinsularity(in
relationto the nationaleconomy).72 Nor werethe railwaysquick to destroy
regionallyorientatedtransportsystems.Most companiesfound it in their
best intereststo structurefreightrates so as to encouragethe trade of the
regionsthey served, to favourshorthauls, and thus to cementregional
73
resourcegroupings.
Industrialization
accentuatedthe differences
betweenregionsby making
themmore functionally
distinctand specialized.Economicand commercial
circumstances
werethusincreasingly
experiencedregionally
and socialprotest
movementswiththeirregionalfragmentation
can onlybe understoodat that
level and in relationto regionalemployment
and social structures.Issues of
nationalpoliticalreformalso came to be identifiedwithparticularregions,
forexamplefactoryreformwithYorkshire,the anti-poorlaw campaignwith
Lancashireand Manchester,or currencyreformwithBirmingham.Regional
identitywas encouragedby the links createdaround the great provincial
cities,by theintra-regional
natureofthebulk ofmigration,
by theformation
ofregionallybased clubs and societies,tradeunions,employers'associations,
and newspapers.74
In short, dynamicindustrialregionsgenerateda social and economic
interaction
whichwould have been absentif theircomponentindustrieshad
not been spatiallyconcentratedand specialized.Intensivelocal competition
combined with regionalintelligenceand information
networkshelped to
stimulateregion-wideadvances in industrialtechnologyand commercial
organization.And thegrowthof specializedfinancialand mercantileservices
withinthe dominantregionsservedto increasethe externaleconomiesand
reduced both intra-regional
and extra-regional
transactionscosts significantly.75
Macroeconomicindicatorsfailto pick up thisregionalspecialization
and dynamismwhich was unique to the period and revolutionary
in its
impact.

Crafts,Britisheconomic
growth,p. 3.
Hunt, 'Industrialisation
and regionalinequality';idem,'Wages', pp. 6o-8; Allen,Enclosure,ch. I2;
Williamson,'English factormarkets';Clark and Souden, eds., Migrationand society,chs. 7, io. On
capital and credit marketssee Hudson, Genesis.See also Pollard, Peaceful conquest,p. 37; Presnell,
Countrybanking,pp. 284-343; Anderson,'Attorneyand the early capital market'; Hoppit, Risk and
failure,ch. I5.
72 Freeman, 'Transport', p. 86; Langton, 'Industrialrevolutionand regional geography',p. i62;
Turnbull,'Canals', pp. 537-60.
73 Freeman,'Transport',p. 92; see also Hawke, Railways.
74 Langtonprovidesa stimulating
surveyof the regionalfragmentation
of tradeunions,of Chartism
and othermovements,and of regionaldifferences
in work practicesand work customs,in 'Industrial
revolution',pp. I50-5. See also Read, Englishprovinces;and Southall, 'Towards a geography'which
concentrates
on the artisantrades.
75 See Pollard,Peacefulconquest,
pp. I9, 28-9.
70
7I

40

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

VII
The work of Wrigleyand Schofieldrightlydominatesthe population
historyof this period but theiroriginalcausal analysisillustratessome of
of aggregativestudiesof economicand social transformation.
the difficulties
They arguethat,despiteconsiderablegrowthin numbersand the disappeartherewas no significant
in
ance of major crises of mortality,
discontinuity
demographicbehaviourin England between the sixteenthand the mid
There was no sexual, social, medical,or nutritional
nineteenthcenturies.76
revolution.The population regime was and remained marriagedriven:
nuptialityand hence fertility
throughoutthe three centuriesvaried as a
delayed responseto changesin livingstandardsas indicatedby real wage
trends.77But the dangerin usingnationaldemographicvariablesto analyse
patternsof individualmotivationis that national estimatesmay conflate
opposing tendenciesin differentregions,sectors of industry,and social
of themainsprings
of aggregatedemographic
groups.Accurateidentification
trendswill onlycome withregional,sectoral,and class breakdownsbecause
sortsof workersor social groupswithindifferent
different
regionalcultures
stimulior reacted differently
to the same
probablyexperienceddifferent
economictrends,thus creatinga rangeof demographicregimes.78
The factthatdemographicvariablessuch as illegitimacy
ratesand age of
marriageexhibitenduringspatialpatternsin the face of changingeconomic
fortunesis suggestive.79Parish reconstitution
studies indicate that local
behaviour did not parallel the movementof the aggregateseries. Such
diversitycasts doubt upon the use of the nationalvital rates for causal
analysisof demographicbehaviour.The mostimportantcausal variablesin
local reconstitution
studiesappear to range well outside the movementof
real wages. The local economic and social setting,broadlydefined,was
crucial. It included such thingsas proletarianization,
price movements,
and the natureof parishadministration,
of
economicinsecurity,
particularly
the poor laws.80 Despite this, a national culturalnorm continuesto be
stressed,withthe assumptionthatregionsand localitiestendedtowardsit.
The result,as with the macroeconomicwork of Craftsand others,is an
excessivepreoccupationwithnationalcomparisons('the French versusthe
Englishpattern')and withthe idea thatlowerclasses and backwardregions
lag behindtheirsuperiors,but eventuallyfollowthemon the nationalroad
to modernityand progress.8'
76 Wrigleyand Schofield,Populationhistory,
chs. I0, i i. For summariesof theircausal analysissee
Smith,'Fertility,economyand householdformation';Wrigley,'Growthof population'.
77 There has been considerable
theanalysis.
methodunderlying
debateoverthisviewand thestatistical
See Gaunt,Levine, and Moodie, 'Populationhistory';Anderson,'Historicaldemography';Mokyr,'Three
centuriesof populationchange'; Olney, 'Fertility';Lindert, 'English livingstandards';Lee, 'Inverse
projection';idem,'Populationhomeostatis'.
78 See Levine, in Gaunt, Levine, and Moodie, 'Populationhistory',p. I55.
79 See for example, Levine and Wrightson,'Social context of illegitimacy',pp. i6o-i;
Wilson,
'Proximatedeterminants'.
80 Wrightsonand Levine, Povertyand piety.For the importanceof the local economic settingsee
Levine and Wrightson,The making,ch. 3; Sharpe, 'Literallyspinsters'.For
Levine, Familyformation;
familyreconstitution
resultssee Wrigleyand Schofield,'Englishpopulationhistory'.
81 Seccombe, 'Marxismand demography',
p. 35.

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

4I

and the
Recently,the effectsof proto-industrialization,
proletarianization,
changingcompositionof the workforcehave receivedattentionin relation
todemographic
change.82This opensthedoorfora moreradicalinterpretation
of the structuralcauses of fertility
change. The need to look more closely
at those structuraland institutional
changeswhichresultedin the marked
declinein age of marriagein the second halfof the eighteenthcenturyhas
been emphasized, as has the importanceof a growinggroup of 'young
barriers' in the populationwhose actionsappear unaffected
by the general
pressureson real wages.83Evidence of radical discontinuity
is reappearing
at all levels of analysis.84
The influenceoftheWrigley/Schofield
approachmayalso haveunjustifiably
divertedattentionaway frommortalityand its significant
discontinuities.
The CambridgeGroup aggregatedata suggestthatrisingfertility
was twoand-a-halftimes more importantthan fallingmortalityin producingthe
accelerationin population growthin the eighteenthcentury. But the
markedincreasein theproportionof thepopulationlivingin townstogether
withthe substantialurbanmortality
penaltymakesdiachronicstudiesof the
national aggregate population particularlylikely to underestimatethe
A centralrole for
importanceof mortalitychangesin relationto fertility.
in urbanlifeexpectancyin fuellingpopulationgrowthduring
improvements
theindustrialrevolution
is perfectly
compatiblewithsignificant
contemporary
shiftsin fertility
and even withsuch shiftsbeing apparently
moresignificant
at the nationallevel.86
ofradicalstructural
The significance
shiftsin thecompositionand location
in mortality
of the population,as well as of improvement
rates,tendsto be
overlookedif causal explanationsbased on aggregatedata are used. This has
resultedin the currentliteraturebeing dominatedby discussionof fertility
ratherthan of mortality
and of continuity
ratherthanof discontinuity.
VIII
The evolutionof social class and of class consciousnesshas long been
integral to popular understandingof what was new in the industrial
revolution.Growingoccupationalconcentration,
loss of
proletarianization,
independence,exploitation,deskilling,and urbanizationhave been central
ofworking-class
cultureand consciousness,
to mostanalysesoftheformation
while the ascendancy of Whig laissez-fairepolitical economy has been
as a class.87But recent
associatedwiththe new importanceof industrialists
families,chs. 2, 3; idem,'Proletarianfamily',pp. i8i-8.
See Levine, Reproducing
Schofield,'English marriagepatterns'.This studyfindsthat, in the eighteenthcentury,age of
and
marriagebecame more importantthan variationin celibacyin accountingforchangesin fertility,
thatage of marriagewas relativelyunresponsiveto real wage indicesafterI700. On youngmarrierssee
Goldstone,'Demographicrevolution'.
84
For a recentexamplesee Jackson,'Populationchangein Somerset-Wiltshire'.
85
Wrigley,'Growthof populationin the eighteenthcentury',pp. I26-33.
86
This pointis made in Kearns, 'Urban penalty';cf. Thompson,
Woods, 'Populationredistribution'.
The making,pp. 356-66; Perkin,Origins.
87
Prothero,Artisansand politics;Morris, Class and class
See, for example, Foster, Class struggle;
Seed, 'Unitarianism'.
consciousness;
82

83

42

MAXINE

BERG

and

PAT HUDSON

economichistoryhas rightlyemphasizedthe complexityof combinedand

unevendevelopment.Putting-out,
workshops,and sweatingexistedalongside
and werecomplementary
to a diversefactorysector.It is no longerpossible
to speak of a unilinearprocessof deskillingand loss of workplacecontrol.
The diversityof organizationalforms of industry,of work experience
of compositeand irregularincomes,and
accordingto genderand ethnicity,
of shiftsof employmentover the lifecycle and throughthe seasons meant
that workers'perceptionsof work and of an employingclass were varied
and contradictory.88
Nor can one speakofa homogeneousgroupofindustrial
betweenthe attitudeand outlook
employers.There weremarkeddifferences
of small workshopmastersand factoryemployers.And withinthesegroups
therewere variationsof responseto competitiveconditionsrangingfrom
outrightexploitationto paternalism,withmanymixturesof the two. There
fromagentsdown to foremenand
was also a wide rangeof intermediaries
leaders of familywork groups to deflectoppositionand tension in the
workplace.89And we now have a much more sophisticatedunderstanding
of the complexinterplayof customaryand marketrelationships.
Any simple
notionof the latterreplacingthe formeris to be discarded.90In addition,
recentwriting,includingpost-structuralist
approaches,has questionedany
suggestionof deterministic
relationshipsbetween socioeconomic position
and politicalconsciousness.9'
of thiswork,theseinterpretations
should not be
Despite the significance
allowed to edge out all idea thatthe industrialrevolutionperiod witnessed
radical shiftsin social relationsand in social consciousness.Much recent
social historyhas been based on an unquestioningacceptanceof the new
gradualistviewoftheeconomichistoryoftheperiodwhich,we have argued,
severelyunderplaysthe extentof radical economicchange and of parallel
the mass of the population.Balanced analysesof the
developmentsaffecting
combinedand uneven natureof developmentwithinindustrialcapitalism
should not obscure the fact that the industrialworld of I850 was vastly
differentfor most workersfrom that of I750. There were more large
workplaces,more poweredmachines,and along withthesetherewas more
directmanagerialinvolvementin the organizationand planningof work. A
clearernotionof the separationof work and non-worktime was evolving
partlyout of thedeclineoffamilyworkunitsand ofproductionin thehome.
had acceleratedand the life chances of a much larger
Proletarianization
proportionof the populationwere determinedby the marketand affected
and disease. Capitalistwage labourand theworkingclass
by urbanmortality
88 Joyce,'Work'; idem,'Introduction'in idem,Historicalmeanings;
Samuel, 'Workshop'; Sabel and
Zeitlin,'Historicalalternatives';Reid, 'Politicsand economics';Hobsbawm, 'Marx and history'.
89
Davidoff and Hall, Family fortunes;Behagg, Productionand politics;Rodger, 'Mid Victorian
employers';Joyce,'Work'; Huberman,'Economicoriginsof paternalism';Rose, Taylor,and Winstanley,
'Economic origins. . . objections';Huberman,'Reply'.
90 Williams,'Custom'; Bushaway,By rite;Randall, 'Industrialmoral economy'; Berg, ed., Markets
and manufacture.
Sonenscher,Workin France;
91 StedmanJones,'RethinkingChartism';Sewell, Workand revolution;
Foster, 'Declassing of language'; Gray,'Deconstructionof the Englishworkingclass'; idem,'Language
chs. I-3; Patterson,'Postof factoryreform';Reddy, Money and liberty;Scott, Genderand history,
structuralism'.

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

43

but withgreaterspeed thanin earlier

and incompletely
developedirregularly
of similarities
of workexperience
centuries.And the regionalconcentration
to producesocial
sufficiently
and of the tradecycleadvancedclass formation
protestand conflicton an unprecedentedscale, involvingan arrayof anticapitalistcritiques.92
nationally,
While the factoryneverdominatedproductionor employment
in certainregionsto create widespreadidentitiesof
it did so sufficiently
interestand political cohesion. And where it did not exist it exercised
enormous influencenot only in spawning dispersed production, suband sweating,but also as a majorfeatureof the imageryof the
contracting,
age. The factoryand the machineas hallmarksof the periodmayhave been
mythbut they were symbolicof many other changes attendanton the
emergenceof a more competitivemarket environmentand the greater
discipliningand alienationoflabour.This symbolprovideda focusofprotest
and opposition and was a powerfulelement in the formationof social
consciousness.93
Finally,we mustconsiderthe prominencerecentlygivento the economic
power and political influenceof the landed aristocracy,rentiers,and
merchantsin the nineteenthcentury.94This prominenceis, in part, a
of industrialchange and
response to the new gradualistinterpretations
The
division
in
social and politicallife
accumulation.
the
industrial
major
of nineteenth-century
England is argued to have been that between the
dominantgentlemanly
capitalismof the aristocraticand rentierclasses and
a subordinateindustrialcapitalism.But how valid is this?Is it yetanother
which(whilealertingus to thecomplexity
aspectofthecurrenthistoriography
divertsattentionundulyfromthe impactof changesin
of industrialization)
industryand industrialpowerin the period?
The gentlemanly
capitalismthesishas been shownto have overestimated
the dominance of rentierand mercantilecapital in elite wealthholding
theseparationof interestsand cultures
patterns,and to have overemphasized
between these groups and industrialists.The thesis also exaggeratesthe
and cohesionof gentleman-capitalists
on the one hand
internalhomogeneity
and industrialcapitalistson theother.95BeforeI830, or evenperhapsbefore
the economic role of industryand industrialistsshould not be
I850,
minimized.The dynamismofindustrializing
regions,thepatternand finance
of theiroverseastrading,theirpowerin politicallobbying,and changesin
theirlocal governmentsuggestotherwise.The metropolitan
economymay
well have become the major locus of servicesectorgrowthand of wealth
accumulationby the thirdquarterof the nineteenthcentury,but in the
92
Randall,'Industrialmoraleconomy';idem,'Philosophyof Luddism'; Behagg,'Democracyofwork';
Gray, 'Languages of factoryreform'; Hilton, Age of atonement.For similar views among small
Kirk, 'Defence
Behagg, Politicsand production;
see Davidoffand Hall, Familyfortunes;
manufacturers
of class'; Foster, 'Declassing of language'.
93 Berg,Machinery
Randall,
question;idem,'Progressand providence';Behagg,Politicsand production;
'Industrialmoral economy';idem,'New languages'.
94 This interpretation
is seen in varyingformsin thefollowingworks:Cain and Hopkins,'Gentlemanly
capitalism';Anderson,'Figures of descent'; Wiener,Englishculture;Ingham,Capitalismdivided.
95 Daunton, 'Gentlemanlycapitalism';Gunn, 'Failure of middle class'; BarrattBrown, 'Away with
greatarches'.

44

MAXINE BERG and PAT HUDSON

industrialrevolutionperiod itselfit is more likelythat regionalindustrial

revolutionsdictatedthecourseof structural
changeand colonialexpansion.96
In short,althoughindustrialtransformation
gave rise to a complicated
mass of differing
experiencesand social relations,manyinnovationsin the
organizationand use of labour if not in technologywere commonto all
industries and sectors. Furthermore,changes in markets and in the
competitiveclimatehad an impacton all English capitalistswhetherthey
were metropolitanor provincialand whetherfinanciers,farmers,small
masters,factoryemployers,or involvedin the servicesector.

Ix
The industrialrevolutionwas an economicand socialprocesswhichadded
up to much morethanthe sum of its measurableparts.The periodsaw the
sectoralspecializationof regionsand the growthof regionallyintegrated
an industrialand social
economiessome of whichwere clearlyexperiencing
revolution,no matterhow thistermis defined,whileothersdeindustrialized.
The movementof aggregatequantitativeindicatorsignores this and, as
presentlycalculated,failsto give an accurateaccountof the structuralshift
in the natureand deploymentof theworkforce
because the calculationsrely
on adult male labour. The natureof innovationand of industrialand social
transformation
is also currently
and underestimated.
Landes
misrepresented
of discontinuities
has warnedof maskingthe significance
by concentrating
on the absence of shiftsin quantitativeindicators:to him these were the
thevirtue
historians''butterfly
underglass or frogin formaldehyde-without
of wholenessto compensatefortheirlifelessness':
of . . . societyand eventhenin termsthat
numbers
describethesurface
merely
of unchanging
nomenclature.
Beneath
defineawaychangeby usingcategories
and... itwastheythatdetermined
thissurface,
thevitalorgansweretransformed
themetabolism
oftheentiresystem.97
It is timeto moveon fromthemacroaccountingframework
and to rebuild
the nationalpictureof economicand social change fromnew researchat
regionaland local level. We need to adopt a broaderconceptof innovation,
to insiston a greaterawarenessof femaleand childlabour,and to recognize
thatthe economic,social, and culturalfoundationsof an industrialcapitalist
order rest on much more than conventionalmeasures of industrialor
If thisis done it shouldnotbe longbeforethenotion
economicperformance.
of an industrialrevolution,occurringin Englandin the late eighteenthand
earlynineteenthcenturies,is fullyrehabilitated.
University
of Warwick
University
of Liverpool

96 Porter,'Capitalismand empire'; Allen, Enclosure,

ch. I2; Hudson, Regions,ch. I; Saville, 'Notes
on PerryAnderson';BarrattBrown,'Away withgreatarches'.
97 Landes, UnboundPrometheus,
p. I22.

REHABILITATING

THE

INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

45

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