7.0 Unit 7 Overview: Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

3 min read•april 26, 2020

Harrison Burnside

AP Human Geography 🚜

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The Core Theme in this Unit

Industrialization and Economic Growth will give power to some but will hurt others through the process of Uneven Development.

Industrialization, from ancient history to now, has helped power improvements in standards of living in periphery countries, but it has also contributed to geographically uneven development in semi-periphery countries.

But First - What Is An Economy?

Investopedia says, “An economy is the large set of interrelated production and consumption activities that aid in determining how scarce resources are allocated. The production and consumption of goods and services are used to fulfill the needs of those living and operating within the economy, which is also referred to as an economic system”.

You could find that on Google or in your textbook, but what does that really mean?

Let’s break down that statement. The first sentence says that an economy has many moving parts that are created and sold to people. It also references that an economy affects the supply and demand for goods and services. The second sentence says that the people that buy these goods, also known as consumers, buy goods/services that they need and want.

So an economy is basically people that buy things from the people that make things. Does that sound easy enough to understand? That is what this whole unit is about. In this unit, you will examine how supply and demand affect how a country can improve standards of living and how different economic systems can help citizens of a country gain more or less equality.

Major Trends

Industrialization → consumer goods more affordable and available
Railroads increased circulation of goods, people, and ideas
Demand for raw materials increased, new sources acquired by steamship
Women gained economic power with opportunities in factories
Countries develop with more trade and more knowledge of economics
Development should be sustainable to prevent depletion of limited natural resources

Important Vocab

Vocab Word	Definition
Agglomeration	The spatial grouping of people or activities for mutual benefit. Ex: Hollywood
Growth Pole	Concentration of technologically advanced industries to stimulate economic development. Ex: Silicon Valley
Just-In-Time Delivery	Method of transportation, storage, and delivery that allows businesses to only store what they need for consumers to get quickly. Ex: Amazon
Post-Fordist Production	Flexible set of new production practices that are not mass-produced to disperse production around the globe.
Deindustrialization	Decline in an industrial region to shift into outsourcing or offshoring production. Ex: Rust Belt
Transnational Corporations	A company with international production of goods and services based in a different region that their production. Ex: Disney; Coca-Cola
Neocolonialism	The use of economic and political pressures to influence a developing or an underdeveloped country. Ex: French West Africa
Maquiladoras	American factories on the Mexican side of the border that use cheap Mexican migrant labor. Ex: Tijuana; Mexicali
Sun Belt	An area in the South and SW regions of the USA that have grown rapidly after World War 2, especially in the High-Tech Corridor and in Oil/Natural Gas Production.