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What must an innovation do to count as 'transformative' in this thematic study?
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All Flashcards in Topic 7.4
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7.4.112 cards
What must an innovation do to count as 'transformative' in this thematic study?
It must bring about a major change to the form or function of aspects of society — not just be new, but change how people actually live.
Name the four IB regions used for cross-regional comparison in Paper 2.
Africa & the Middle East, the Americas, Asia & Oceania, Europe.
Richard Arkwright — who was he and what did innovation bring him?
British inventor of the water frame (1769); became one of the richest men in Britain and was knighted in 1786 — innovation as huge reward for an inventor-entrepreneur.
What were conditions like for women and children in early British textile mills?
Long shifts (12-14+ hours), dangerous unguarded machinery, low pay (often half a man's wage), and child labour common until the Factory Acts (from 1833) restricted it.
What was Henry Ford's '$5 day' (1914) and why did he introduce it?
Ford doubled wages to about $5/day for qualifying workers, mainly to cut extremely high labour turnover caused by the mind-numbing, exhausting assembly line he had introduced in 1913.
Define 'deskilling' as it applies to Fordist mass production.
Breaking a complex craft into small repetitive tasks so workers need little training — raises output but strips workers of skill, status and bargaining power.
Compare: who captured most of the wealth from the British Industrial Revolution and from Fordism?
Both cases: factory/company owners and shareholders (elites) captured most wealth; workers gained only modest, hard-won wage rises (e.g. Ford's $5 day) relative to profits generated.
How does 'perspectives' apply to judging the Industrial Revolution?
Factory owners and free-market economists saw it as progress and opportunity; workers, reformers (e.g. Friedrich Engels) and many historians since emphasise exploitation and suffering — same event, different judgement.
What continued (continuity) despite industrial and Fordist innovation, and what changed?
Continuity: hierarchy — owners/managers still held power over workers. Change: the workplace, daily rhythm (clock-based shifts), gender roles (women drawn into paid mill work), and scale of output.
What is the Green Revolution and how does it fit the 'winners and losers' pattern?
Post-1940s Asian/Latin American push (e.g. Norman Borlaug's high-yield wheat in India from the 1960s) that raised food output but favoured farmers who could afford seeds/fertiliser/irrigation, widening inequality with poorer smallholders.
Why does a Section B(b) essay comparing Britain and the USA satisfy the cross-regional rule?
Britain = Europe; USA (Fordism, from 1913) = the Americas — two different IB regions, allowing direct comparison of causes, winners and losers as the mark scheme requires.
Give one example of significance: why is the $5 day considered a landmark, not just a pay rise?
It created a stable, semi-affluent industrial workforce that could afford the very cars it built, helping establish mass-consumer capitalism — significance beyond the individual wage.
Topic 7.4 study notes
Full notes & explanations for How did the innovations affect people's lives?
History (2028+) exam skills
Paper structures, command terms & tips
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