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This volume brings together eleven essays and articles which
the author has published on the history of the industrial revolution, together
with six hitherto unpublished papers. Method is the central consideration, and
Dr. Hartwell discusses the ways in which historians have analysed the industrial
revolution, demonstrates inconsistency and bias in their interpretations, and
suggests an appropriate framework of economic theory for future studies. He maintains
that the industrial revolution is 'the great discontinuity' of modern history
and should displace such vague claimants as 'the rise of modern capitalism,' and
also that it is only possible to understand the industrial revolution by analysing
it as a historical example of economic growth. The text falls into three sections
which reflect the author's interests. The first, 'Methodology and Background,'
considers economic growth before the industrial revolution, explains why historians
differ in their interpretations of English industrialization, and argues the case
for 'the great discontinuity.' The second, 'Causes and Process,' considers the
causes of the industrial revolution and the process of growth during the industrial
revolution, and gives particular attention to variables of growth which the historians
have ignored, education and law. The third, 'Social and Economic Consequences,'
is concerned with the 'standard-of-living controversy,' with the effects of the
industrial revolution on real wages, and on the working and living conditions
of the working classes. R. M. Hartwell is Professorial
Fellow of Nuffield College, and Reader in Recent Social and Economic History in
the University of Oxford. |
