Economic Developments and Innovations in the Industrial Age
Driving Question: How did industrialization change economic systems, and what were the impacts of these changes?
As industrialization developed and spread, the impact on societies also grew. The way societies produced, exchanged, and consumed goods and services changed, leading to new economic systems—and growing tensions between those doing the work and those profiting from the work.
Learning Objectives
- Compare and contrast the economic systems of capitalism and socialism.
- Evaluate how different groups responded to increasing industrialization from c. 1750 to 1900 CE.
- Explain the development of economic systems, ideologies, and institutions and how they contributed to change in the period from 1750 to 1900.
The Economic Systems Simulation is a great hands-on activity. Be sure to read the instructions ahead of time in the Lesson Guide. You’ll need Hershey’s Kisses or another type of candy or some other high value prize, such as homework passes.
The Industrial Revolution led to many innovations and new ideas, but not all of them were technical or resource-based. Some were economic ideas, such as capitalism and socialism.
Want to change up your reading strategy? Divide students into groups and assign them roles, such as vocabulary master, claim cruncher, evidence gatherer, and content connector. While they’re reading, each student looks for and writes down the specific thing their role is responsible for. When they’re done, students meet in their homogenous groups and share, then meet with their heterogenous groups and discuss the reading.
The Industrial Revolution was like gasoline to the engine of capitalism as that new economic system hummed along in the long nineteenth century. What paved the road for this new economic engine?
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Guiding Questions
How did industrialization reshape people’s lives, communities, and the environment?
Capitalism thrived as a result of the Industrial Revolution; however, in response to the rise of capitalism, socialism became an alternative for some. In this video, John Green will take a look at the positives and negatives of capitalism and socialism.
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Guiding Questions
Students often think of slavery and capitalism as separate topics, but this article asks them to explore their close link and development. The article raises a challenging historical debate so it helps to present it as an argument students can evaluate using evidence.
Capitalism had many far-reaching connections. One of the more disturbing connections was to slavery. But did capitalism have a hand in the end of slavery?
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Guiding Questions
Think back on what you’ve learned in this lesson as a way to draw connections between the different materials you read and watched.
a political or economic theory in which community members own all property, resources, and the means of production, and control the distribution of goods
Individuals who think community members should own and control property, production, and distribution subscribe to socialism.