Industrialisation

• Industrialisation is a process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial (an economy where the amount of capital accumulated per capita is low) to an industrial state (see Pre-industrial society).
• It is a part of wider modernization process.
• This social and economic change is closely intertwined with technological innovation, particularly the development of large-scale energy production and metallurgy.
• Industrialisation is also related to some form of philosophical change, or to a different attitude in the perception of nature.
• Industrialization has spawned its own health problems. Modern stressors include noise, air, water pollution, poor nutrition, dangerous machinery, impersonal work, isolation, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse. Health problems in industrial nations are as much caused by economic, social, political, and cultural factors as by pathogens. Industrialization has become a major medical issue world wide.
• Most pre-industrial economies had standards of living not much above subsistence, meaning that the majority of the population were focused on producing their means of survival. For example, in medieval Europe, 80% of the labor force was employed in subsistence agriculture. The countries in green are considered to be the current industrializing nations (see: Newly industrializing countries). China and India (in dark green) are special cases.