What term describes the shift to factory-based, machine-driven production?

What term describes the shift to factory-based, machine-driven production?

• A. Industrialization
• B. Automation
• C. Urbanization
• D. Ruralization

Answer: (A)

Industrialization is the transformation from handcrafted, cottage-style production to factory-based, machine-driven production. It involves power-driven machinery—often steam, and later electricity—that runs large factories, enabling mass production, standardized parts, and division of labor. This shift reshaped the American economy by concentrating production in urban factories and changing how work was organized, wages, and daily life. It’s different from automation, which focuses on machines performing tasks with minimal human control, and from urbanization, which describes people moving to cities as a consequence of industrial growth.

Industrialization is the transformation from handcrafted, cottage-style production to factory-based, machine-driven production. It involves power-driven machinery—often steam, and later electricity—that runs large factories, enabling mass production, standardized parts, and division of labor. This shift reshaped the American economy by concentrating production in urban factories and changing how work was organized, wages, and daily life. It’s different from automation, which focuses on machines performing tasks with minimal human control, and from urbanization, which describes people moving to cities as a consequence of industrial growth.