Exploratory Study On British Handicraft Production In Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution is the transformation of British from the agricultural society to the industrialized. It is also a change that machinery replaces manual labor; factory replaces family workshop and manufacture. With the deep development of industrial revolution, handicraft production changes the original forms gradually, and seeks for new forms. This thesis selects British handicraft production in industrial revolution as its theme, attempting to show its exciting forms in the process of industrialization and analyses its changes, development trend and feature during thia period from the angle of art and economics.Based on combing and analyzing a vast amount of reference book, this paper concludes that in industrial revolution old handicraft production form coexist with the new and it is transiting from scattered model to concentration, from independent to dependent, from manual labor to machinery. Home handicraft changes from sideline production which can only be sold when self-used abound to commodity production. The intervention and control of trading capital promotes it turns into capitalist production and scattered manufacture gradually. Most craftsman handicraft produces in businessman's employment. Putting-out system is the main form of handicraft production in initial stage of industrial revolution. It forms a bridge between scattered production forms and concentrated one. On this basis, centralized manufacture appears and plans premise requirement to transfer to factory industry. The rise of factory production almost tracks the emergence of the middle type handicraft. It has the characteristics of traditional and modern forms of handicraft production, and it also has natural transition to factory industry. It is the branch of factory to complement the factory handicraft production.Through combing the developing clue of the British handicraft production forms in industrial revolution, this paper reveals the process how the handicraft corrects itself to the industrialized environment and develops. It also attempts to summarize the feature and trend of handicraft production in industrialized society, which can provide a reference to exploring the developing ways of China contemporary handicraft production.