Did Science Cause the Industrial Revolution?

Abstract

The role of science and technology in the First Industrial Revolution is still contested. Some scholars, focusing on the textiles sector, argue that skilled and talented artisans with no scientific training were mainly responsible for the key inventions; others, with steam power in mind, hold that the links between science and the crucial inventions of the period were fundamental. Margaret Jacob has been a leading contributor to the debate for nearly four decades. The publication of her The First Knowledge Economy offers an opportunity to review the issues. (JEL J24, L26, N13, N73, O31, O33)

Transition to modern growth in Great Britain: The role of technological progress, adult mortality and factor accumulation

“…In the paper we adhere to the idea that the Industrial Revolution is the result of the cultural revolution during the 17th century (Koyre, 1961, Cipolla, 1994, Rosenberg, 1994, Mokyr, 2002, Mokyr, 2010, Jacob and Stewart, 2004and Ó Gráda, 2016.…”

Thomas Hodgskin, Rational Optimist

“…The thousands of micro‐inventions that spurred Britain's spectacular success depended, for the most part, on newly acquired knowledge, beyond the direct involvement of scientists in the industrial activity. ‘Most of the foremost inventor–entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution were of rather modest, artisanal origin’ (Ó Gráda , p. 8). At the same time, the demand for highly skilled labourers increased.…”

Why Did the Industrial Revolution Start in Britain?

“…Bacon violently rejected the scholastic interpretation of the classical texts and advocated in favor of an interpretation of the nature through both rigorous observation and theoretical reasoning based on new principles and deduction. As Bacon (1620) Musson and Robinson (1969) that the British industrial revolution was not unrelated to the scientific revolution and required something more than the "uneducated empiricism" (p.87) suggested by traditional historiography 55 (O Grada, 2014a). Yet although some direct connection can be established between science and some of the industrial inventions, such as the chemical inventions and arguably the steam engine, scholars have found it hard to associate the main technological breakthroughs of the British industrial revolution with the scientific discoveries of its time (Mokyr, 2005b(Mokyr, , 2011.…”

“…Thus, a number of historians and economic historians have criticized Musson and Robinson's focus on science, arguing that early British inventions were mostly empirical and owed very little to direct scientific guidance and knowledge (see e.g. Mathias, 1972, McKendrick, 1973Hall, 1974;Cookson, 1994;Mitch, 1999;Allen, 2009b;O Grada, 2014a). In parallel, some authors (see e.g.…”