This unit notes that the central problem facing all societies is that of providing a high standard of living for all its members. Each society will develop an infrastructure, a system of political and economic organizations to fulfil that task. How well that infrastructure operates will determine the material standard of living of that society. We will study the development of economic infrastructures that made the industrial revolution possible. The unit examines how British society in the eighteenth and nineteenth century evolved as it went through the industrialization process.

Possible Questions for Deeper Understanding

Should economic decisions be evaluated on the basis of: profit? Efficiency? Tradition? Morality?

What criteria should be the basis for deciding what are wise and unwise decisions by society?