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Sociology vocabulary · Social Change and Globalisation

Industrialisation

Meaning in sociology, with examples

/ɪnˌdʌstriəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/nounCommon term

In sociology, industrialisation means: The shift from an economy based mainly on farming and handcraft to one based on factories, machines and mass production, with deep effects on work, family and where people live.

In Turkish: sanayileşme, endüstrileşme

How it is used

The Industrial Revolution in Britain, from the late eighteenth century, is the classic case. Sociology itself grew out of attempts to understand industrialisation. Researchers also discuss deindustrialisation, the decline of manufacturing in older industrial regions.

Example sentences

  1. Industrialisation drew millions of people from the countryside into factory towns.

  2. Durkheim and Marx offered very different explanations of the social effects of industrialisation.

Common collocations

  • rapid industrialisation
  • process of industrialisation
  • deindustrialisation
  • industrialisation and urbanisation
  • urbanisationThe process by which a growing share of a country's population comes to live in towns and cities, together with the social changes this brings.
  • modernityThe type of society that emerged in Europe from around the eighteenth century, marked by industrialisation, urbanisation, the nation-state, science and a belief in progress.
  • capitalismAn economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately owned and goods and labour are bought and sold in markets for profit.
  • division of labourThe way work in a society or organisation is split into separate, specialised tasks carried out by different people or groups.

More terms: Social Change and Globalisation

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