Chapter 5, Consumption Summary and Analysis

The next of Ferguson's killer apps is consumption. Consumption has driven Western civilization forward by driving economic development. The textile industry led the way and it has had the odd effect of giving people across the world more choice while making them look more and more alike. The textile revolution began in England in the early 19th century and via new innovations, such as better iron production and steam power, allowed the economy to specialize in producing a lot of different products, though cotton was always the king of the development of the British economy. Why did the industrial revolution begin there? First, labor was scare, which generating high wages. Second, Britain had a great deal of coal.

The British Industrial Revolution, in contrast to the French Revolution before it, spread across Europe peacefully, as innovators could not protect...