Can industrialization and socialization coexist?

“The problem of architecture as I see it is the problem of all art – the elimination of the human element from the consideration of the form.” 
  ― Evelyn Waugh, Decline and fall

Ever since industrial revolution started in the 1800’s, our society has evolved to become ‘Machine Oriented’ and ‘Materialistic’. When I use these two words I do not emphasize on an entirely negative notation about industrialization. From steam engines to the present day mobile phones, we have come to a stage where practically anything can be done or rather produced by technology. Rightly as we call ourselves techno-savvy, we are heading towards an automated world.

Now let’s see from a wider perspective. How is socialization affected by industrialization? Industrialization is all about transforming the society from agriculture dependent into machine dependent to increase economic activity. One of the major aspects of industrialization was to provide more employment, but it did not seem so. In the earlier stages of industrialization the need for work force was abundant due to reduced technological reach. Now with increase in innovative thinkers and technology, automation has come into picture, where human labor is less needed. Humans are starting to fear about unemployment. For most of the middle class families’ employment is the only way to lead a stable and a healthy life. Once machines started over powering manual labor, it threatened their jobs and eventually it led to people becoming insecure.

Before industrialization most of the countries were drawn towards agriculture for their revenue. Once industrialization evolved they transformed to being agriculture independent. Therefore, the farmers were losing income and were forced to migrate to cities in search of jobs. This led to largescale displacement to cities from towns and villages leading to the breakage of family ties. Another impact due to this was agricultural land acquisition to build industries. Farmers are even today forcefully made to sell their lands to multinational companies for expanding their empires. Now industrialization has shifted to being dominated by the ‘Rich’. To be more precise, ‘the rich is becoming richer and the poor is becoming poorer’. This led to the suppression of the financial stability of working class people. The concern about human development was declining and was more oriented towards self-improvement of only certain class of people. In a country like India, the consequences of industrialization is more widespread. Problems of infrastructure, poverty, increased taxes and corruption are prevalent.

Another impact of industrialization was its effect on the environment. With the increasing demand for goods, the usage of natural resources also rose. Technology and innovation demanded for scarping its resources from the environment leading to an ecological imbalance.

Now the question arises, can industrialization and socialization coexist? In my opinion, yes definitely they can. In a country like India, agriculture forms more than half of the revenue. To form a mature industrialized society we need to incorporate transformation in a harmonic way such that it does not disrupt the livelihood of the people. The local occupation of any place has to be encouraged and improved in such a way that their products can strongly compete in the international markets. The respective governments have to formulate policies to ensure equitable distribution of wealth, which is very difficult to achieve in the current political scenario.

Today, with change in the thought process of people especially the present age youngsters are seeking towards a more mature industrialized society with concern about humans and environment. Man is a ‘Social Animal’, this does not mean that man should be drawn towards his own self development. We should be concerned about us and our fellow human beings. We should therefore accept and invite positive and healthy changes in technology and industrialization without much hamper to the society.

- Maheshwari M