The Industrial Revolution in World History

Citation

Stearns, P. N. (2026). The Industrial Revolution in World History (6th ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition has nineteen chapters in three parts, followed by a list of suggestions for further reading, in about 300 pages with 21 black-and-white illustrations. The publisher describes a book that covers the international factors that helped launch the industrial revolution, its global spread, and its impact from the end of the eighteenth century to the present. It looks beyond the West to India, the Middle East and Africa, and this edition adds more on Latin American economies and China, and on environmental impacts in all these areas.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Defining the Industrial Revolution

The opening chapter sets out what is meant by the industrial revolution, which the rest of the book then follows through three phases.

Part I: The First Phase, 1760–1880: Western Primacy, Global Contexts and Global Results (Chapters 2–6)

The first part begins in Britain. Chapter 2, "Britain's Revolution: New Processes and Economic Transformation", treats the new processes and the economic change they brought, and Chapter 3, "New Causes: Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen, and Why Did It Happen in Eighteenth-Century Britain", takes up the question of causes. Chapter 4, "The Industrial Revolution in Western Society", treats industrialization across Western societies, and Chapter 5, "The Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution", turns to its consequences for society. Chapter 6, "The Impact on the World Economy", closes the part by placing industrialization in a global frame, in line with the part's title, which speaks of "global contexts and global results".

Part II: The Second Phase, 1880–1950: The New International Cast (Chapters 7–11)

The second part brings in new industrial powers. Chapter 7, "The Industrial Revolution Changes Stripes, 1880–1950", introduces the period, and Chapters 8 and 9 are devoted to Russia and Japan. Chapter 10, "New Developments in Western Societies: A Second Revolution? Redefinitions of the Industrial Economy", asks whether the West's industrial economy was redefined in this phase, and Chapter 11, "The Industrial Revolution in International Context", puts the new cast of industrial countries in an international setting.

Part III: The Third Phase, 1950–Present: Global Intensification (Chapters 12–19)

The third part covers the period since 1950. Chapter 12 is "The Industrial Revolution in the Contemporary World", and Chapter 13, "The New Industrial Revolutions: Transforming the International Balance Sheet", considers how new industrial revolutions changed the international balance. Chapter 14, "China's Breakthrough: Another Big Industrial Revolution", gives China its own chapter, and Chapter 15 asks whether advanced industrial economies are undergoing "another revolution". Chapter 16, "Globalization, Progress and Exploitation: A New World Economy", Chapter 17, "Global Industry and the Environment", and Chapter 18, "Disruptions and New Directions in the Industrial World", deal with the world economy, environmental impacts and recent disruptions. The publisher says this edition adds a new chapter on tensions since 2008 over the economic effects of globalization and the decline of manufacturing in the West, together with the implications of artificial intelligence. Chapter 19, "Conclusion: Industrialization as an Ongoing Process", closes the argument, and Chapter 20, "Suggestions for Further Reading", is the reading guide, which the publisher says was updated.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: The First Phase

• Defining the industrial revolution: the definitional question taken up in Chapter 1.
• Causes of the industrial revolution: the debate about why it happened, and why in eighteenth-century Britain, in Chapter 3.
• Social impact: the effects on society treated in Chapter 5.
• Impact on the world economy: the global consequences discussed in Chapter 6.

Chapters 7–11: The Second Phase

• New international cast: the arrival of Russia and Japan as industrial societies, with a chapter apiece.
• A second revolution: the question in Chapter 10 of whether the Western industrial economy was redefined after 1880.

Chapters 12–20: The Third Phase

• New industrial revolutions: the subject of Chapter 13, followed by China's breakthrough in Chapter 14.
• Globalization, progress and exploitation: the three terms of Chapter 16's title for a new world economy.
• Industry and the environment: the subject of Chapter 17, which the publisher says this edition extends to environmental impacts in each region.
• Industrialization as an ongoing process: the position of the conclusion in Chapter 19.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A global frame stated from the start. The publisher says the book extends the analysis of the industrial revolution beyond the West to India, the Middle East and Africa, and gives more to Latin America and China. The contents back this up by giving Russia, Japan and China their own chapters and by placing a chapter on the world economy within the first phase.
• A clear three-phase structure. The three parts (1760–1880, 1880–1950, since 1950) give a reader a way to place each country and each topic in time, and the part titles state the main theme of each phase.
• Debate is built into the book. The publisher says the edition has boxed debate features that encourage readers to consider diversity and different viewpoints in their own analysis, and Chapter 3 is devoted to the causes debate.
• Brought up to date. The publisher describes the edition as revised and brought into the present, with a new chapter on the tensions since 2008 and on artificial intelligence.

Limitations

• Coverage of regions is uneven in the contents. Only Britain, Russia, Japan and China have chapters named for them. India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, which the publisher says are included, have to be found inside the broader chapters.
• A narrative, not a quantitative treatment. The chapter titles describe processes, social effects and international relations. A reader who wants models, data and statistical comparison of growth will need a different book.
• Short for its scope. At about 300 pages the book covers more than two centuries and many regions, so each case is presented briefly. The final chapter of the contents, "Suggestions for Further Reading", is the route to detail.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the economic and social history course list, Stearns is a global, narrative account of industrialization. Robert Allen's Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction is a shorter text that uses simple economic reasoning to ask why some parts of the world became rich after 1500, and it is a shorter first read before Stearns. Persson, Sharp and Lampe's An Economic History of Europe applies economic theory to European evidence and is the better choice for the mechanisms of growth in Europe; Stearns is the better choice for the comparative, global picture and for social history.

Two harder books address themes that Stearns's chapters raise. Kenneth Pomeranz's The Great Divergence is a comparative study of why Western Europe, rather than the advanced regions of China, industrialized first, and it can be read after Chapter 3, on causes. E. P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class is a detailed account of the formation of class in England between about 1780 and 1832, and it adds depth to Chapters 4 and 5.

How to Use This Book

The publisher presents the book as essential reading for students of world history and economics, and it suits courses in economic and social history that want a global account. The publisher states no prerequisite, but a general world history course is a helpful starting point.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1–6, which define the subject, explain the British case and its causes, and trace its social and global effects.
• By interest: Part II (Chapters 7–11) if you are studying Russia, Japan or the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Part III (Chapters 12–19) if you want the history of the last seventy years, including China, globalization and the environment.
• Throughout: use the boxed debates to compare competing explanations, and use Chapter 20, the suggestions for further reading, to move to specialised studies.

Read it with a specific question in mind, such as why Britain led, how latecomers differed, or what has changed since the 1950s, and use the part titles to keep the phases separate.