DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA
COURSE TITLE: SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND OCCUPATION
COURSE CODE: SOC 262
LECTURER: ZAKARIYYA, M.
LECTURE NOTE 4
TOPIC: INDUSTRY AND INDUSTRIALIZATION
INDUSTRY
Wilbert Moose asserts that "industry" is the process of turning raw materials into finished goods using
mechanical power. Industry also means: a system of making things through the use of machines in mass
production. In fact, the word "industry" is now used to describe a large factory where a lot of people work
with machines together. This system uses a scientific or intentional way to increase production. In this method,
called industrial mode, the capitalists invest a lot of money and hire workers. They also invest in land, build
factories, install machines, and buy raw materials. Another group of workers are hired to work on fixed terms
and conditions that are good for long-term mass production.

INDUSTRY AS A PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Today, the word "industry" is used to describe the way things are made in factories, where big and small
machines are used to make consumer goods. This system uses a scientific or logical way to boost output.
People call a "factory" a "place" where a lot of people work together under the same roof. Entrepreneurs, who
are also called capitalists or merchants, came up with this system. These agents put their money into big
projects and can wait for a long time to get it back. In the second half of the 18th century, entrepreneurs came
up with this system so they could make a lot of common items. In this kind of system, rich people put a lot of
money into land, buildings, machines, or people's labour.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUSTRY
1. Concentration of the manufacturing process in large factories or locations near sources of
motive like power, raw materials, or markets: This entailed the accumulation of fixed capital as
well as free labour to put it to use.
2. Utilization of inanimate energy sources: Machines powered by electricity or steam are used in
manufacturing. Production increased and costs decreased as a result of the machines.
3. Labor differentiation and specialization: The entire production process is divided into a number
of simple and smaller stages or steps in which specialized groups of workers are engaged. Workers
become experts as they perform the same tasks every day. The manufacturing process is extremely
fast. All stages of production are run concurrently, accelerating production even further.
4. Profitability: As the manufacturing process became more profitable, an increasing number of
entrepreneurs entered the field.
5. There is a formal, contractual, and temporary relationship between capitalists and workers:
Workers are weak in comparison to industrialists, who wield more economic and political power.
6. Large-scale production and high market: It is possible to produce goods on a large scale using
various large or small machines and a finely divided labour process. This has provided us with the
opportunity to broaden our market and because industrial products are cheap and mass-produced,
people in the middle and lower classes can now purchase them.

IMPACT OF INDUSTRY ON SOCIETY

1. Emergence of a new form of class in the society: A large middle class has emerged as a result of
various skilled occupations in industry. Many people with specialized knowledge began working
in industries and advanced to higher positions.
2. Change in consumption Pattern: As society becomes more market-oriented, people began
purchasing goods that were readily available on the market. They adopt a materialist mind-set.
3. Change in family structure: Due to the fact that people could only move to cities to work in
factories, joint families disintegrated into single-person nuclear families.

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 4. A new form of Values: Rationality and secularism gained popularity; people began to question
their traditional beliefs and readily adopted new patterns.
5. A new change in the demands in Educational system to satisfy the need of industrialization:
Educational institutions adapted quickly to industry demands. People were taught the skills
required for employment in the industries.
6. Easy Social mobility and stratification: Many people in lower ranks lose their jobs to those in
higher ranks, allowing them to advance in status.
7. Willingness to change: As a result of their exposure to mass media and new information, people
adopt new technology and want to change their traditional way of life.
However, in the 1960s, this era entered a new phase of development known as post-industrial society or the
"Age of Automation" sets in. Automation refers to programmable machinery. This has truly revolutionary
implications for the machine-human relationship. Machines can do things that humans cannot because of
psychological limitations.

INDUSTRIALIZATION
Industrialization is defined as the application of inanimate sources of power to the productive process,
inevitably leads to an increased emphasis on economic efficiency and increases in the scale of productive
enterprise. Industrialization, in the words of Ms. Gore, is "a process where the production of goods with the
use of hand tools is replaced by the production with the use of power-driven machines." Changes in the
organization of trade and finance are also brought about, along with corresponding changes in the technologies
of agriculture, transportation, and communication.
The terms "industrialism" and "industrialization," according to the succinct Oxford Dictionary of Sociology,
denote a change in the modes of production that greatly increases the capacity of modern societies to create
wealth in comparison to traditional systems. When used strictly, industrialization refers to the process of
producing economic goods and services with a significant amount of the power coming from inanimate
sources. Industrialization is the process by which industries grow and the corresponding technology advances.
Technology advancement, specialization in work, differentiation of labour practices and the scientific use of
humans and machines are the main drivers of industrialization.

MAIN FEATURES OF WORK IN INDUSTRIAL CAPITALIST SOCIETY

Work in industrial capitalist society is generally characterized by the following features:
1. Mechanized production system: The re- organization of work could be said to have started with the
introduction of new source of inanimate energy to drive machinery, replacing water or wind power and human
or animal muscle power. The increased scale of the power sources and the complexity of the machines meant
that a large amount of capital was required to finance production and work was moved out of the home and
into factories.
2. Unit of Production: The change from the household as the productive unit in which family and non- family
members lived and worked together, pooling resources, and producing food and goods for their own
consumption to the factory and other specialist unit of production, such as office, in which individuals worked
for wage, was gradual. Most importantly, from the standpoint of capital, the move from household to factory
production removed control over the product and the work process from the worker and enabled capitalist and
their managers to supervise and discipline workers more easily, thereby reducing the cost of production.
3. Division of Labour: The advent of capitalist industrialization reduced a range of pre- modern types of work
especially, those connected to agriculture such as blacksmiths and basket- makers, a large proportion of whom
were self- employed and created a vast number of new types of industrial work for employees in factories.
Machines were designed, built, installed, supplied with energy and raw material, operated, maintained and
supervised by different types of worker whom, following the separation of conception and execution, were
divided by education (e.g., professional and elementary), skill categories (e.g., skilled or semi- skilled) and
unskilled categories.
4. Time: Prior to the rise of industrial capitalism, irregularity especially in terms of work time, characterized
the pattern of work. This was because, work activities were influenced by the seasons involved in obtaining
sustenance from working on one’s own plot of land, collecting food and fuel and being hired out to work for
others. Above all, work tended to be task-oriented, work time tended to vary according to the job at hand. The

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stricter division between life and work and the increased synchronization of labour within the factory raised
time-consciousness and created a need for time discipline to which, the growing school system and Methodism
played their part by prioritizing punctuality and regularity.
5. Education and recruitment: The rise of industrial capitalism increased both the technical or detailed
division of labour by task specialization within occupations and the general division of labour between
occupations in society. This necessitated a marked expansion of compulsory education in general and
specialized training in vocational subjects in particular, which in turn led to the growth of examinations and
the award of credentials to certify competence for impersonal recruitment to different types of work. Weber
referred to this as the “Rationalization” of education and training and noted that the process of
bureaucratization ‘enhances the importance of the specialist examination’.
6. Economic system: The rise of industrial capitalism involved the development of a market economy in
which virtually all economic resources, including capital, labour, and the goods and services produced by
business enterprises, are exchanged for money free of traditional social obligations and constraints such as
restrictions on who could engage in certain economic activities. In other words, the idea and practice of free
trade or laissez-faire characterizes work in industrial capitalist societies. Most importantly, in industrial
capitalism economic relations become separated, formal from non-economic relations, and distinguished by
the primacy accorded to the freedom to maximize economic gains by employing free wage labour.
7. A shift in the purpose of work: In pre-industrial capitalist societies, the main purpose of economic
activities that we call work was to provide the essential goods and services necessary for the survival of the
group or household. This changed with the rise of the capitalistic organization of work. The main purpose of
work became ‘the pursuit of profit and forever renewed profit by means of continuous, rational, capitalistic
enterprise’. If there was no profit to be obtained, things would not be made even if people needed them. In
Veblen’s terms, the purpose of work changed from that of maximum production (workmanship) to maximum
profit (predation) to the economic detriment of those who do not own capital.
8. Payment: In pre-industrial societies, economic activities such as farming and handicraft work were
organized on a small scale and were concerned primarily with ‘earning a livelihood rather than with a view to
profits on investment’. For the vast majority this meant subsistence, involving a mixture of payment in kind
and in cash. However, once workers had been separated from the means of production, their only option was
to seek work for wages/salaries as an employee in a business enterprise.

DISTINCTIVE COMPARISM OF WORK IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND WORK IN

INDUSTRIAL CAPITALIST SOCIETY
Key features Work in pre-industrial society Work in industrial society
Production system Hand tools/water/human/ Machine tools/inanimate energy
animal energy (coal, gas, oil, etc)
Unit of production Family/household Individual adults/organization
Division of labour Rudimentary and low degree of Complex and high degree of
differentiation differentiation
Time Irregular and seasonal Regular and contractual
Education/Recruitment Minimal, generalized and Extensive, specialized and universalistic
particularistic family members individual adults
Economic system Traditional and non-market based Rational and market based
Meaning of work Necessity of life Work as a virtue in life
Purpose of work Livelihood, subsistence and short- Maximum reward, income and long-term
term profit for subsistence living profit maximization for wealth
Payment In kind/cash Wages/salaries/profits
Location of work Embedded in non-economic Separate from other institutions to form a
institutions like the family new institution in the society
Source: course lecturer’s note compilation, 2024.

PREREQUISITES FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION

1. Availability of capital for investment: Industrialization factories, machinery, and labour
manufacturing cannot be initiated without sufficient capital or funds for investment. Only if pre-industrial
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economic activity and industrialization, particularly agriculture, can produce a surplus after proving for
consumption can formation occur.
2. Availability of Fundamental Raw Materials: They may be imported, so this is not a crucial
requirement. Japan has become the leading producer of steel automobiles and heavy machinery despite having
almost no reserves of iron, oil, or other essential raw materials.
3. Availability of impersonal credit: All productive businesses rely on borrowed funds. Credit and
financial institutions that can absorb excess capital from surplus holders and make it available to investors.
Industrialization is a form of impersonal credit, which is essential to economic growth.
4. A dedicated workforce: Industrialization necessitates a dedicated workforce. Commitment is the
acceptance of industrial society's values and their expression. Industrialization requires that workers view
industrial work as a desirable occupation.
5. Large expanded market: Industry requires a market for its products in order to thrive. Demand for
large-scale production for an impersonal market must exist, and such a market must exist.
6. Political stability: Only with political stability can industry flourish. Unstable political conditions
create uncertainty for the company and impede its expansion. Political stability is essential for successful
industrialization. Government policies that are steadfast support the industry.
7. Mobilization of Basic Resources: The key to successful industrialization is the mobilization of basic
resources, particularly labour and capital. Rapid industrialization becomes challenging if resources are held
back by traditional considerations and are therefore unavailable to meet demand.
8. Entrepreneurial Ability: Industrialization's most essential requirement is entrepreneurial spirit.
David McClelland has argued that material growth requires a desire for economic development. The
entrepreneur is responsible for establishing a trial enterprise. He is so important that he is frequently
considered a factor of production alongside land, labour, and capital.
9. Economic Activity: For any form of economic activity to flourish, the broader society must recognize
its legitimacy. Industrialization can only flourish if there is societal agreement on the ideas, beliefs, and values
underlying modern factory production.
10. Differentiation and specialization of labour: The new technology, which signifies the division of
the entire production process into a series of simple steps, to each of which a group of specialized workers is
assigned. Industrialization is the essential technical condition for industrial expansion. To make appropriate
decisions, there must also be a systematized structure based on authority and specialized skills.
11. Rationalization as new form of values: Rationalization is the most important value for this type of
economic organization. Rationalization is the application of logical reasoning to everyday problems. The
industrialization of religion and the replacement of its values with those derived from science and reason. The
organization of society is based on the rational and efficient maximization of gain and minimization of
expense.

CONSEQUENCE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
1. A monetary basis of exchange is essentially a prerequisite for industrialization: Money becomes
the new medium of payment and exchange in the economy.
2. Changes in occupational structure: In most areas of factory production, skilled labour is required
and in high demand. As labour has become increasingly differentiated and specialized making varied
occupations to emerged. Each one necessitates a skilled and educated workforce.
3. Demographic and environmental consequences: Industrialization creates a portion of its own labour
force through indirect and largely unintended means. It also has effects in environmental pollution and
degradation. This is the result of mortality increase resulting from a vast array of public health, medical, and
food production technological challenges.
4. Introduction of new forms of living and diseases: The advent of industrialization has ushered a new
trend of living (urban centres) and the spread of air-borne diseases related to industrial hazards.
5. Social crimes and vices: Due to the quest for property life and social adjustment/placement of people
in the cities, many tend to derived a new means to goals attainment which leads to criminality in the society.

In general, industry and industrialization had brought in a new transition in human economic life that is
becoming inevitable and a way of life in human societies.

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