Third Industrial Revolution (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what the Third Industrial Revolution was and what its characteristics are. Also, the innovations of this period and their consequences.

What was the Third Industrial Revolution?

The Third Industrial Revolution is known as a set of technological innovations that affected the forms of production and distribution in industrialized countries and generated, in turn, profound changes in the world economy during the 1970s and 1980s.

These innovations allowed a marked increase in productivity and they focused on four branches of scientific development: computing, biotechnology, telecommunications and energy engineering. The countries that led this process were the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

With the Third Industrial Revolution, the forms of productive organization changed. Multinational companies merged the tasks of administration, production and marketingand began to create large corporations. Technological development allowed an increase in productivity levels based on the automation of processes and the incorporation of computing into the business organization.

These transformations affected the relationship between the organization of capital and work and, consequently, the link between the economy and the State. During the 1970s, Some countries were replacing the political model of the Welfare State with the Liberal State.

Some specialists maintain that the changes known as the Third Industrial Revolution laid the foundations for a new type of society worldwide, known as the “information and knowledge society.”

Characteristics of the Third Industrial Revolution

The main characteristics of the Third Industrial Revolution were:

The incorporation of computing as the main means of information processing in industries and companies.
The increase in productivity based on the fusion of computing and telecommunications in production processes.
The emergence of multinational companies or corporations that concentrated the functions of administration, production and marketing in the different economic sectors.
The technological development of four main scientific areas: computing, biotechnology, telecommunications and energy engineering.
The use of new materials in industrial production and the search for new energy sources to replace oil and generate electricity.
The geographical redistribution of industrial and agricultural production as a consequence of the improvement in communications and transportation.
The consolidation of the consumer society and the emergence of the information society.

Changes of the Third Industrial Revolution

The main scientific fields that characterized the Third Industrial Revolution were computing, telecommunications, biotechnology and energy engineering.

IT

Computer science is the science that studies the techniques of processing, storing and managing information. Since the 1960s, IT turned to the automation of these processes through the use of computers. and electronic devices.

During the 1970s, there were different inventions that constituted great advances for computer development: the chip (specific function integrated circuit) and the microprocessor (multi-function integrated circuit). In the following decade, the large-scale integration of these advances occurred in the different productive sectors.

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As a consequence, The use of computers (ever smaller) became widespread in various sectorssuch as the automobile, aviation, home appliance and other consumer goods industries.

The demand for computer products grew exponentially in a few years: in 1970, the first microprocessors were invented, in 1975 there were 750,000 microprocessors in industry and production, in 1985, there were nearly eighty million computers of different sizes and by 1990, This number reached one billion microprocessor devices.

telecommunications

Telecommunications is the transmission and reception of signals, processes that allow distance communication. During the 1970s, two areas of telecommunications underwent great advances: satellite transmissions and telematics (data transmission over telephone lines).

The orbit of satellites intended for communication increased in this period and allowed the arrival of communication to any point in the world. On the other hand, telematics incorporated the advances in computing and developed the fusion of telephones, computers and televisions.

This revolution in communications allowed rapid interconnection between strategic markets and the consolidation of remote financial speculation. Instant access to information on the evolution of stock markets changed the times of companies and allowed greater international interference by corporations.

biotechnology

Biotechnology is the set of techniques that manipulate living substances with the aim of modifying a plant or animal product. Most biotech products are created in a laboratory and are synthetic.

This allowed the invention of new products that would not exist naturally. Some advances in biotechnology in this period were cloning (reproduction of another organism equal to the original)gene splicing (manipulation of change in species) and the propagation of single-cell tissues (genetic improvement of species).

Biotechnology was especially focused on food production and pharmaceuticals.. In the food industry, the production of genetically modified seeds and the genetic alteration of animal species were implemented to increase productivity. As a consequence, many of the food industry's goods broke their dependence on the soil and natural production cycles.

In the health industry hundreds of new products were created for medical purposessuch as insulin, anticoagulants, cytokines and lymphokines (immunological substances) or endorphins and enkephalins (narcotics).

Besides, Bioengineering led to the creation of new artificial materials that replace some elements of nature such as, for example, optical fiber, silicon silicates and new metal alloys (zirconium, beryllium and niobium).

energy engineering

Since the rise in oil prices in the 1970s, engineering has dedicated itself to finding alternative sources of energy for industrial production. Coal and nuclear energy were introduced in electricity generation. However, the use of these energies had negative effects, such as pollution and radiation.

Energy engineering seeks new sources of energy that are renewable and sustainable. At the same time, it focuses on developing technology that allows reducing energy needs.

The main renewable energy sources that are developed to generate electricity are:

Solar energy through solar panels
Wind energy through windmills
Biomass energy through organic waste
Geothermal energy through temperature conduction and convection systems

Main technologies of the Third Industrial Revolution

Among the main inventions that allowed some of the productive transformations of the Third Industrial Revolution are:

The semiconductors. They are materials that allow their performance as energy conductors or insulators to be altered. The most common semiconductor material is silicon and it is used to make electronic components (LEDs, microprocessors and transistors).
The transistor. It is a semiconductor electronic device that allows the passage of information in response to a signal. Transistors are used in almost all electronic devices, such as radios, televisions and cell phones.
The silicon chip. It is a semiconductor integrated circuit that incorporates a number of transistors. Silicon chips are used in smartphones, cars, and other electronic systems.
The artificial satellite. It is a machine placed in orbit around the Earth that allows the reception and emission of signals to and from any point on the planet. There are communications satellites (which receive and emit radio and television signals), terrestrial and space observations (which allow analysis for scientific, civil and military purposes) and meteorological satellites (which monitor the climate on Earth).
fiber optic. It is a material that allows photoelectric pulses to be conducted and is used to transfer data at high speeds and distances. Today, it is used for underwater or long-distance cabling, communication systems, and lighting fixtures.

Consequences of the Third Industrial Revolution

The development of the Third Industrial Revolution generated a series of consequences that affected the ways of life of different industrialized societies. Advances in computing, biotechnology, telecommunications and energy engineering affected the political, economic and social spheres:

Employment organization

Advances in computing had a great impact on the organization of work. The use of computers replaced tasks of systematization and administration of information. This affected work in offices and the state bureaucracy because it generated job displacement.

On the other hand, The development of telecommunications allowed the growth of multinational companies and new areas of qualified work linked to business management appeared.

International redistribution of production

The advances of biotechnology in the food industries transformed agricultural organization in several countries. The development of biotechnology programs involved high costs, and this reinforced the preponderance of large companies over small producers of primary goods for food production.

During the 1980s, American multinational companies managed to control 96% of patents for inventions linked to biotechnology. These same companies controlled a large percentage of the global marketing of food and agro-industrial products.

Consequently, the Third Industrial Revolution generated a change in productive regionalization worldwide: the central countries stopped depending on the agricultural production of tropical countries for food production. The main victims of this transformation were small agricultural producers in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Globalization

The application of scientific advances to transportation, communications and industry allowed the integration of the economy worldwide. This process is also known as globalization.

Innovations in transportation and communication systems allowed multinational companies to establish their factories in countries with cheap labor (that is, with low recognition of labor rights). This way, Many companies reduced their production expenses and increased their profits.

Furthermore, these same advances allowed the extension of commercialization. With the integration of markets and the transnationalization of the main mass media, some goods and cultural consumption habits were standardized.

Background of the Third Industrial Revolution

The term Third Industrial Revolution corresponds to a periodization that identifies different historical processes that revolutionized the forms of production of goods and resulted in major changes in the political, economic and social organization worldwide.

Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914)

It was characterized by greater specialization of work in factories. Furthermore, the assembly line (the rational division of labor into successive steps carried out by different workers) allowed mass production.
Steel production became a fundamental factor for the development of other industries. In addition, new resources and energy sources were used, such as oil and electricity.
The most important inventions of this period were the automobile and the airplane (with internal combustion engines), the electric tram, and telecommunications (telephone, radio, phonograph, and cinematograph).
Industrialization spread throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. Germany was the country that experienced the greatest industrial growth in this period.

Fourth Industrial Revolution

The set of technological changes that are affecting the world economy since the beginning of the 21st century. This concept is not accepted by the entire scientific community because many specialists maintain that these are forms of production linked to the Third Industrial Revolution and do not constitute a paradigm shift in the world economy.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by the integration of different areas of scientific knowledge (physical, computer and biological). The main fields of technological innovation are robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and programming. Furthermore, the spread of Internet use led to the interconnection of devices, systems and services.

Those who defend the idea of a Fourth Industrial Revolution highlight the introduction of new production systems, the integration of supply chains with manufacturing systems through electronics, software development and communication platforms.

References

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