STS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Steam Engine, Industrial Revolution, Deskilling

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Science, Technology, and Society
• Course: STS200
• Professor: Tihamer Richard Kover

Document Summary

Scienti c revolution: progressive expanse of our knowledge of the external world. The enlightenment: reform social and political institutions according to law like rational principles. For the most part the impact of the scienti c revolution was largely restricted to upper-class circles. With the industrial revolution these mechanistic principles became part of daily life for the bast majority of people, particularly in great britain. The scienti c revolution and the notion of progress. Steam engine unleashed the stored power of coal. New machines were no longer dependant on the vagaries of the seasons or natural forces like wind or water. They could run day or night and produce in a day what it could have taken several works a year. Mechanized cotton spinning powered by steam or water increased the output of a factory worker by a factor of about 1000. Power loom increased the output of a worker by a factor of over 40.