history 398 fall 2004 history 398 lecture 6 the factory system the factory was more than just a...

History 398 Fall 2004

History 398 Lecture 6

THE FACTORY SYSTEMThe factory was more than just a larger work unit. It was a system of production resting on a characteristic definition of the functions and responsibilities of the different participants in the productive process.

David S. Landes, The Unbound Prometheus


Bedworth Mill


The Factory as a Machine• Individual machines as

coordinated parts of larger, continuously operating mechanism– < central power source (whether water or

steam) driving all machines at coordinated rates (allude to other forms of organization made possible by small electric motors)

– inherent in factory itself and reinforced by every step of increased mechanization

– think about the alternatives at the time and in general


The Factory as a Machine

• Individual machines as coordinated parts of larger, continuously operating mechanism

• The mill clock - autonomous factory

Many mills have a clock turned by the mill; close to another clock regulated by a pendulum, and the motion of the mill is so regular, that these two clocks will never vary more than two or three minutes. Both are made with dials and hands exactly alike, but one has a title on the dial, mill time, and the other, clock time.

The Rees Cyclopedia, quoted by Hills, 193


The Mill Clock

Victorian clock from Pyemore Mill, near Bridport, DorsetJ.M. Richards, The Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings, 109

clock timemill time,

as measured

by waterwheel


The Factory as a Machine• Individual machines as coordinated

parts of larger, continuously operating mechanism

• The mill clock signifies self-contained, autonomous nature of factory-machine

• HumansWhilst the engine runs, the people must work – men, women and children are yoked together with iron and steam. The animal machine ... is chained fast to the iron

machine, which knows no suffering and no weariness. J.P Kay, Moral and Physical Condition ... in Cotton

Manufacturing (1832), 4; quoted by Briggs, Age of Improvement, 61


The Factory as a Machine

• Individual machines as coordinated parts of larger, continuously operating mechanism

• The mill clock signifies self-contained, autonomous nature of factory-machine

• Humans• Difficulties of adjustment

– individual– cultural– socio-economic


The Sources of Factory Labor

• Artisans --> factory hands– hand - manufacture: ironic– gradually find skills replaced, but in

meantime find themselves and their work subjected to ever tighter discipline, e.g. weavers in factory

– surrender means of production– surrender craft standards– cash nexus with employer



• Artisans --> factory hands

• Marginal labor --> factory hands– neither skills nor tools; only labor– full-time employment ==> loss of

autonomy– breakup of family– severance from traditional landed

community and its support system– Laslett: family and home



• Artisans --> factory hands• Marginal labor --> factory hands

• Breakup of tradition village (and marginal labor attached)

improvement, commercial crops, enclosure

early industrial concentration

emergence of industrial village and transformation to city


Factory DisciplineWhile the domestic system had implied some measure of control, 'it was ... an essentially new thing for the capitalist to be a disciplinarian. [...] The capitalist employer became a supervisor in every detail of the work: without any change in the general character of the wage contract, the employer acquired new powers which were of great social significance.' [quoting Usher, Intro. to Industrial Hist. of Engl. (1921), 348] The concept of industrial discipline was new, and called for as much innovation as the technical innovations of the age.

Pollard, "Factory Discipline", 259


Factory Discipline• "Profit made in last half-hour"

common belief translated into long workday of continuous labor by all hands– regular attendance– punctuality and sobriety– attentiveness to task– continual industry by schedule (eat, relieve self, work

when you don't feel well)– no rowdiness, distracting conversation, wandering

away from machine– no rebellion against authority or conditions


Factory Discipline

• "Profit made in last half-hour" common belief translated into long workday of continuous labor by all hands

• Workers had to be trained to these traits– cf. function of modern school– production schedule of agricultural

community and domestic industry– "time thrift"


Factory Discipline


• Workers had to be trained to these traits

• Discipline in factory greater problem because of– high proportion of children in workforce– dissolution of family and community ties


Factory Discipline


• Workers had to be trained to these traits• Discipline in factory greater problem

• Discipline achieved largely through: – threat of punishment– incentives

– education


Factory Discipline• "Profit made in last half-hour" common

belief translated into long workday of continuous labor by all hands

• Workers had to be trained to these traits• Discipline in factory greater problem• Discipline achieved• ==> Emphasis in readings about

factory system on supervision and superintendence, architecturally as well as managerially


Factory Discipline• "Profit made in last half-hour" common belief

translated into long workday of continuous labor by all hands

• Workers had to be trained to these traits• Discipline in factory greater problem• Discipline achieved

• ==> Emphasis in readings about factory system on supervision and superintendence

• New industrial norms introduced and reinforced not only individually, but by society at large

history 398 fall 2004 history 398 lecture 6 the factory system the factory was more than just a...

Documents

factory systemthe factory

generalthe factory

factory handsmarginal

autonomous nature of

factory handsneither

coordinated parts of

clock timemill time

machineindividual machines