Many of the great works of sociology were written at a time when industrialisation was new and machinery was assuming great importance. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated a number of social features with industry, such as urbanisation, the loss of face-to-face relationships that were found in rural areas where people worked on their own farms or for a landlord they knew, and their substitution by anonymous professional relationships in modern factories and workplaces. Industrialisation involve a detailed division of labour. People often do not see the end result of their work because they are producing only one small part of a product. The work is often repetitive and exhausting. Yet, even this is better than having no work at all, i.e., being unemployed. Marx called this situation alienation, when people do not enjoy work, and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive, and even that survival depends on whether the technology has room for any human labour.
Which one of the following is not a feature of industrialisation?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Decreased economic inequality
Option (1) Urbanisation — A feature of industrialisation (Incorrect). Marx, Weber and Durkheim all associated urbanisation with industry. Factories need large numbers of workers in one place, so towns and cities grow around them.
Option (2) Anonymity — A feature of industrialisation (Incorrect). In the village people worked on their own farms or for a landlord they knew. In modern factories and workplaces these face-to-face ties were replaced by anonymous professional relationships.
Option (3) Decreased economic inequality — Not a feature of industrialisation (Correct). The features linked with industry are urbanisation, anonymous relationships, a detailed division of labour and repetitive work. A fall in inequality is not one of them. The work described here is tiring and repetitive, and the worker’s very survival depends on whether the technology has room for human labour, which is hardly a picture of incomes becoming more equal.
Option (4) Repetitive work — A feature of industrialisation (Incorrect). Industrialisation involves a detailed division of labour. Each worker produces only one small part of a product, so the work is often repetitive and exhausting.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.1 Images of Industrial Society … Many of the great works of sociology were written at a time when industrialisation was new and machinery was assuming great importance. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated a number of social features with industry, such as urbanisation, the loss of face-to-face relationships that were found in rural areas where people worked on their own farms or for a landlord they knew, and their substitution by anonymous professional relationships in modern factories and workplaces. Industrialisation involves a detailed division of labour. People often do not see the end result of their work because they are producing only one small part of a product. The work is often repetitive and exhausting. Yet, even this is better than having no work at all, i.e., being unemployed. Marx called this situation alienation, when people do not enjoy work, and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive, and even that survival depends on whether the technology has room for any human labour.” |