The cottage industry vs. factory system was a central component of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution, which began in the late 18th century, marked a major turning point in history, transforming economies powered by manual labor into ones driven by machinery. It originated in Great Britain and spread across the world, fundamentally altering the social, economic, and cultural fabric of societies. This era saw the rise of factories, significant advancements in transportation such as the steam engine, and the mass production of goods, which greatly increased the availability of consumer products. As such, a central component of the Industrial Revolution was the transformation from the cottage industry to the factory system. This article details the history and significance of both the cottage industry and the factory system and explains the differences between both.
WHAT IS THE COTTAGE INDUSTRY IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
One of the central impacts of the Industrial Revolution was the transformation of society from rural communities based upon agriculture to industrial urban communities based on the factory system. Before the start of the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1700s, the production of goods was done on a very small scale. Historians refer to this method of production as the ‘cottage industry’. Simply put, the cottage industry refers to a period of time in which goods for sale were produced on a very small scale, usually in a home. In this system, people produced goods, such as wool, in their homes or on their own farms and then sold it to local communities since long distance transportation was uncommon. This method of production was slow and inefficient and struggled to keep pace with the growing demand caused by the increased population. As a result, entrepreneurs and inventors sought ways to increase production, which ultimately led to the creation of the factory system.
WHAT IS THE FACTORY SYSTEM IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
The factory system is a term that historians use to refer to the development of centralized factories or mills that produced goods on a mass scale. Throughout the 1700s, inventors such as Richard Arkwright, Eli Whitney, James Hargreaves, and Edmund Cartwright, developed machines and techniques that helped improve production, especially in terms of the textile industry. The textile industry was based on the development of cloth and clothing, and was the main industry that benefitted from the early developments of the Industrial Revolution. For example, James Hargreaves created the spinning jenny in 1764, which allowed a machine which allowed many spindles of thread to be spun at one time. Richard Arkwright added to this by developing the water frame in 1769. The water frame allowed over one hundred spindles of thread to be spun at one time but was so large and needed so much energy that he built it next to rivers and creeks in order to use the force of the water to spin the machine. For his part, Edmund Cartwright developed the power loom in 1785 which allowed quicker production of cloth. Finally, American inventor, Eli Whitney developed the cotton gin in 1793, which allowed for quicker production of cotton. Previously, cotton had to be hand cleaned in order to remove fibers and seeds. Whitney’s cotton gin sped up this process and allowed for much faster harvesting of the resource. In all, these inventions mechanized the textile industry and led to the establishment of factories throughout Britain, which was the first country to industrialize.
The development of the factory system involved the creation of large factories in city-centers. This was done because factory owners needed a large population of people to employ in the factories. Cities, at this time, were growing quickly due to the effects of the Enclosure Movement, which saw small farmers and their families forced off of the land. Cities were also beneficial to the factory system because they were usually built on rivers or canals which gave the factory owner access to water power if needed and for means of transportation. In the 1700s, most shipping and transportation was done by waterway and cities allowed factories easy access to a means of transporting finished products and for obtaining the raw materials needed in production. The development and success of these early factories caused more people to leave the countryside and move to the cities in search of work. As a result, cities exploded in population at this time.
COTTAGE INDUSTRY VS. FACTORY SYSTEM – SUMMARY
In conclusion, the cottage industry is the term that historians use to identify production that was completed before the start of the Industrial Revolution. It involved people producing goods on a very small scale in their homes and was not centralized in one location. In contrast, the factory system developed as part of the Industrial Revolution and generally replaced the cottage industry. The factory system involved the creation of mechanized forms of production which were usually placed in centralized location such as cities. This led to the mass production of goods and the dramatic increase in the population of cities as people move there in search of work.
