11.6.2: Industrial Societies

 1.6: The Transformation of Economic Systems 

11.6.2: Industrial Societies: The Birth of the Machine The steam engine, invented in 1765, ushered in industrial societies. Based on machines powered by fuels, these societies created a surplus unlike anything the world had seen. This, too, stimulated trade among nations and brought even more social inequality. A handful of individuals opened factories and exploited the labor of many. Then came more efficient machines. As the surpluses grew even larger, the emphasis gradually changed—from producing goods to consuming them. In 1912, sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to describe this fundamental change in people’s orientations. By this term, Veblen meant that the Protestant ethic identified by Max Weber—an emphasis on hard work, savings, and a concern for salvation—was being replaced with an eagerness to show off wealth by an “elaborate consumption of goods.”