Dossier «Revolution 4.0: progress or precariousness?» coordinated by Josep LladósISSUE 12 (NOV 2019)
A TERM WITH DEFICIENCIES AND IDEOLOGICAL EFFECTS

Industrial revolutions: a spurious concept

Abstract

This article analyses the concept of industrial revolution, from its origins at the end of the 19th century up to the current excitement surrounding a supposed Fourth Industrial Revolution. Despite being an idea that is firmly embedded in the Western cultural imagination and in the field of academics, numerous historiographic, economic and sociological studies carried out in recent decades have deeply questioned it. In this article we will explore, on the one hand, its most widely-known deficiencies – which for many make it a spurious concept, loaded with erroneous suppositions and an obsolete vision of technological development - and, on the other, some of the ideological and political effects of its use.

industrial revolution;  technological change;  technological determinism;  neutrality;  autonomy technology;  decent work and economic growth;  industry, innovation and infrastructure;  reduced inequalities;  climate action; 

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