Machine Age

Developments

Artifacts of the Machine Age include:

• Reciprocating steam engine replaced by gas turbines, internal combustion engines and electric motors
• Electrification based on large hydroelectric and thermal electric power production plants and distribution systems
• Mass production of high-volume goods on moving assembly lines, particularly of the automobile
• Gigantic production machinery, especially for producing and working metal, such as steel rolling mills, bridge component fabrication, and car body presses
• Powerful earthmoving equipment
• Steel-framed buildings of great height (skyscrapers)
• Radio and phonograph technology
• High-speed printing presses, enabling the production of low-cost newspapers and mass-market magazines
• Low cost appliances for the mass market that employ fractional power electric motors, such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines
• Fast and comfortable long-distance travel by railways, cars, and aircraft
• Development and employment of modern war machines such as tanks, aircraft, submarines and the modern battleship
• Streamline designs in cars and trains, influenced by aircraft design

Social influence

• The rise of mass market advertising and consumerism
• Nationwide branding and distribution of goods, replacing local arts and crafts
• Nationwide cultural leveling due to exposure to films and network broadcasting
• Mass-produced government propaganda through print, audio, and motion pictures
• Replacement of skilled crafts with low skilled labor
• Growth of strong corporations through their abilities to exploit economies of scale in materials and equipment acquisition, manufacturing, and distribution
• Corporate exploitation of labor leading to the creation of strong trade unions as a countervailing force
• Aristocracy with weighted suffrage or male-only suffrage replaced by democracy with universal suffrage, parallel to one-party states
• First-wave feminism
• Increased economic planning, including five-year plans, public works and occasional war economy, including nationwide conscription and rationing

Environmental influence

• Exploitation of natural resources with little concern for the ecological consequences; a continuation of 19th century practices but at a larger scale.
• Release of synthetic dyes, artificial flavorings, and toxic materials into the consumption stream without testing for adverse health effects.
• Rise of petroleum as a strategic resource

International relations

• Conflicts between nations regarding access to energy sources (particularly oil) and material resources (particularly iron and various metals with which it is alloyed) required to ensure national self-sufficiency. Such conflicts were contributory to two devastating world wars.
• Climax of New Imperialism and beginning of decolonization

Arts and architecture

The Machine Age is considered to have influenced:

• Dystopian films including Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and Fritz Lang's Metropolis
• Streamline Moderne appliance design and architecture
• Bauhaus style
• Steampunk – Subgenre of science fiction
• Dieselpunk – Subgenre of science fiction
• Modern art
  • Cubism
  • Art Deco decorative style
  • Futurism
  • Music