The testimony on the impact of mechanization does provide a very poignant insight into how industry decimated the livelihood of the artisan or craftsman class during the Industrial Revolution. It highlights the changes that were so revolutionary in the manufacturing of goods, the dejection that individual craftsmen were driven to, and in its wake, raises important questions about the benefits for society in today’s times.
Firstly, it is highlighted how mechanization revolutionized the manufacturing of goods. Traditionally, products were crafted by artisans with their expertise and care by their own hands, products that expressed high quality and uniqueness. In his YouTube video, John Green. (2013) says that when industrial machinery was introduced, naturally, this kind of intimate relationship that man and product used to have separated. Therefore, there was an abolition of the artisanal approach, and its place was taken by mass production techniques, which led to the homogenization of goods and a decline in craftsmanship. The evidence is clearly then indicative that mechanization is seen to mechanize the production process and to replace the artisans, consigning them to the margins of society.
In addition, the industry edged out individual artisans to contribute their role to economic viability and social standing. With the artisanal system, the artisans could have their freedom and autonomy by being their boss and receiving recognition and respect for their expertise. This balance, however, was disturbed by the advent of industrialization because it made the way of production centralized in factories owned by wealthy capitalists. Artisans were turned into pure labor, work done via dull and monotonous types of tasks on assembly lines without intellectual creativity or meaning. The testimony so painfully screams of the feeling of alienation and betrayal from the side of the craftsmen, stripped of their craft and identity (Mokyr et al., (998).
Most probably, what the testimony evokes most is the reflection on sociological implications in the world of contemporary industrial production. Even though industrialization has definitely taken economic growth and technological development to its crest, it has also been instrumental in creating and aggravating inequalities as well as fracturing communities in other ways. The mass production model shows a preference for efficiency and profit-maximizing vis-à-vis sustainability and human values. It implies environmental destruction and social dislocation. Moreover, when goods are commodified, there is a culture of consumerism where the need for material resources prevails over and above deeper values and connections.
However, McGaw & Judith (1977) points out that not all of the industrial production in the modern world is negative. Industrialization has allowed the democratization of goods that, thus, are accessible and affordable to more significant numbers of the population. It further leads to employment and innovation in many sectors, which can help in the development and prosperity of a country. Moreover, technological developments can decrease the negative externalities due to industrialization, like pollution and depletion of resources, by sustainable practices and the use of renewable energy resources.
Finally, one’s testimony on the effects of mechanization offers one a valuable view of the epochal changes that the industry was likely to have caused in the artisan or craftsman class. It underscores how the marginalization of individual artisans is introduced by mechanization’s disruptive effects on the process of manufacturing goods. On the one hand, industrial production has greatly benefited society. However, on the other side, there is a set of critical ethical and environmental considerations. As we navigate through the intricacies of the modern world, it is essential to think critically on the industry’s part in laying down our future direction, with an eye to balancing progress with preservation.
References
John Green. (2013, July 25). The Industrial Economy: Crash Course US History #23. YouTube. https://youtu.be/r6tRp-zRUJs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6tRp-zRUJs&pp=ygUcaHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9yNnRScC16UlVKcw%3D%3D
McGaw, J. A. (1977). THE SOURCES AND IMPACT OF MECHANIZATION: THE BERKSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS PAPER INDUSTRY, 1801-1885 AS A CASE STUDY. New York University. https://www.proquest.com/openview/286c0b17b9af442140168071aa1dcf81/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Mokyr, J., & Strotz, R. H. (1998). The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914. Storia dell’economia Mondiale, 21945(1). https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.northwestern.edu/dist/3/1222/files/2016/06/The-Second-Industrial-Revolution-1870-1914-Aug-1998-1ubah7s.pdf
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