Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West

Excellent account of the social, religious and economic factors that help usher in the scientific and industrial revolutions. Essential to complement more focused accounts of the scientific revolution

Excellent

This relatively short book (about 200 pages) is a well argued contribution to the discussion over why the Industrial Revolution started in Europe and specifically in Britain. Jacobs' argument is that the development of modern science, specifically the Newtonian form that allowed scientifically based mechanical and civil engineering, was a crucial step for initiating the Industrial Revolution.Jacobs devotes the first 100 pages to a very nice, concise history of the social reception and treatment of the scientific revolution that began with Copernicus. She reviews quite well the general change in attitudes that both assisted and were carried along by the scientific revolution. The development over the course of 17th century of a scientific and philosophical approach that exalted individual capacity for reason (Descarte), the role of scientific knowledge (many writers), and the usefulness of such knowledge (Bacon)is charted well. She then turns to a very interesting discussion of the emergence of the Newtonian approach in late 17th century Britain. Her presentation of the emergence of Newtonianism in the broadest sense as a manifestation of the Moderate Enlightenment trying to avoid the extremes of Catholic absolutism and radical-popular agitation and thought is particularly interesting. By the end of the 17th century, Newtonianism was well disseminated among the educated.Jacobs then moves onto the role of modern science in the emergence of the Industrial Revolution by using a comparative approach of looking at science and industry in Britain, the Netherlands, and France. In Britain, which had a relatively literate population, Newtonianism was relatively widely disseminated and the mechanical-experimental approach was beginning to pervade the thinking not only of a narrow group of scientists but of a large segment of society. Newtonian attitudes in this broad sense became a major cultural feature that promoted commercial support of crucial technological innovations. This is not a monocausal explanation. Jacobs specifies carefully that this is one of several factors, of which another important one was the general commerical orientation of British society. The Netherlands in this respect is a nice control group in Jacobs argument. The Netherlands was just as commercially oriented as Britain, if not more so, but Dutch merchants and capitalists didn't develop an interest in the new science until well into the 18th century. France is another good example. French science in the 18th century was impressive and benefited greatly from considerable royal patronage. It was, however, commercially relatively barren as French educational institutions, dominated by the Church, prevented the widespread scientific literacy that characterized Britain.Written very well with excellent footnotes and bibliography.

Jacob's work attempts to show how a new appetite for science was found among the educated populace following the seminal work of people such as Copernicus and Newton, and how this new scientific understanding of nature led to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. According to Jacob, the discoveries of such early scientists bred a large and active "audience for science" who believed that an understanding of nature (and man's ability to manipulate it) was an enormous untapped resource for industry and commerce. Meanwhile, a substantial rise in the availability and competence of science education created the ability to put such principles of science to practical use. This exciting intellectual atmosphere created the social impetus for the scientific breakthroughs that revolutionized industry. Jacob believes that an understanding of this intellectual atmosphere is necessary for any attempt to understand how and why the Industrial Revolution began.John F. Wilson, reviewing for Business History in April 1998, notes that much of the book concentrates on Britain, in light of its "early lead" in industrialization, only briefly discussing a few areas in continental Europe, and thus does not warrant its sweeping title (...Industrial West). He also feels that Jacob pays very little attention to the influence of demand as opposed to supply in her analysis and relies too heavily on the "well-trodden" area of steam engine technology. Still, he praises her "meticulous analysis of extensive primary records" and credits her for introducing a "cultural paradigm which could well become a significant new means of unraveling the mysteries associated with this era."