The importance of freedom and dignity of the middle class at the beginning of the industrial revolution in 18th century England

Abstract

The industrial revolution initiated humanity's march towards wealth. Started in the 18th century in England, it changed the socio-institutional system of the world, which continues to this day. There are many attempts to explain the revolution. One of them, proposed by D. N. McCloskey, describes the rise of the revolution as a result of a widespread change in society's opinion about creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation. Along with political changes, this has led to an increase in the freedom and dignity of England's middle class. This provided a foothold for an explosion of innovation. However, McCloskey does not account for exactly how the increase in the dignity and freedom of entrepreneurs translates into increased innovation. The aim of the work is to explain this mechanism. Critical literature analysis and deductive reasoning were used to achieve this goal. Research shows that an increase in dignity motivates people to become more active in their own economic projects, while an increase in freedom enables an increase in the participation of the public involved in their own projects. Finally, the increase in economic activity increases the number of market participants, which forces the search for additional annuities by creating and implementing innovations.