Trade and industrialisation | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 31
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 80 minutes
Trade and industrialisation A-Level Sociology revision examines whether participation in global trade and the expansion of industrial production help societies develop. AQA requires students to understand development in relation to aid and trade, industrialisation, urbanisation and the environment. Industrialisation has been examined directly in both 2024 and 2025, including a 20-mark question on whether it is essential for development. This lesson builds on aid and development [Aid and development] and globalisation, political and economic relationships [Globalisation, political and economic relationships].
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain how trade may contribute to or restrict development.
Define industrialisation and explain its economic, social and cultural significance.
Explain how industrialisation may change employment and patterns of production.
Compare export-oriented industrialisation with import-substitution approaches.
Apply modernisation, neoliberal and dependency perspectives to trade and industrialisation.
Evaluate industrialisation through employment, inequality, gender, health, education and environmental sustainability.
Reach a reasoned judgement about whether trade and industrialisation are necessary for development.
Revision Notes 📚
Trade and industrialisation A-Level Sociology revision: the core debate
The AQA specification explicitly requires students to understand development in relation to both trade and industrialisation.
These processes are closely connected.
Trade involves economic exchange between societies.
Industrialisation refers to the expansion of industrial forms of production and the wider economic, social and cultural changes associated with them.
AQA's 2025 examination described industrialisation as involving economic, social and cultural changes that transform societies and make them modern.
The central debate is therefore:
Do participation in trade and expansion of industrial production provide a route out of underdevelopment, or can they reproduce inequality and create new social and environmental problems?
Trade and development
Trade links societies through the exchange of goods and services.
For developing societies, participation in trade may create opportunities to sell products beyond domestic markets.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme recognised increased production of goods for export as one possible economic change resulting from globalisation.
The possible development chain is:
access to international markets → production for export → greater economic activity → employment and income → economic growth → potential development
This provides one reason trade may be regarded as an alternative or complement to aid and development [Aid and development].
Exports
An export is a good or service produced within one society and sold to another.
Production for export can allow developing societies to reach consumers beyond their own domestic economy.
Potential consequences include:
increased production
expansion of industries
employment
increased economic activity
closer integration into global markets
However, increased exports alone do not demonstrate that wider development has occurred.
A sociologist would also ask:
Who owns the productive activity?
Who receives the income?
What kind of employment is created?
Are local industries strengthened?
What environmental costs result?
Do improvements extend to health, education and gender equality?
Trade as a development strategy
Trade may become part of a development strategy where societies attempt to expand economic activity through participation in international markets.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly identifies trade, export-oriented industrialisation, import substitution, infant industries, newly-industrialising countries and the Asian tigers as relevant concepts when evaluating industrialisation and development.
This confirms that students may need to understand that there is more than one way to use industrial development and trade as a strategy.
Export-oriented industrialisation
Export-oriented industrialisation is an approach in which industrial production is developed with a strong emphasis on producing goods for international markets.
The basic development logic is:
industrialisation → manufactured production → exports → income and economic growth → development
AQA's inclusion of export-oriented industrialisation in the 2025 mark scheme shows that it is an appropriate concept for evaluating whether industrialisation is necessary for development.
This strategy fits particularly well with more optimistic interpretations of global economic integration.
Potential advantages of export-oriented industrialisation
An export-oriented strategy may potentially:
expand industrial production
provide access to larger markets
create employment
contribute to economic growth
encourage greater participation in global trade
AQA's 2021 assessment supports the broader link between globalisation, the creation of new industries, employment and production for export.
The analytical chain might therefore be:
international demand → expansion of industry → increased production → employment → economic growth
However, whether this translates into broader development remains an empirical question.
Import substitution
AQA also identifies import substitution as relevant to industrialisation and development.
Import substitution is a strategy focused on developing domestic production of goods that would otherwise be imported.
The broad aim is therefore to develop industrial capacity within the society.
The development chain can be understood as:
goods previously imported → domestic industries develop → local productive capacity increases → industrialisation → possible development
This differs from an export-oriented strategy because the initial emphasis is on developing production for the domestic economy rather than relying primarily on overseas markets.
Why import substitution may be attractive
An import-substitution approach can be linked to the desire to develop a stronger domestic industrial base.
Potential reasoning includes:
increasing domestic production
supporting emerging industries
reducing reliance on externally produced goods
building industrial capacity
AQA's 2025 mark scheme links import substitution with infant industries, which reinforces the importance of considering how developing industries become established.
Infant industries
Infant industries are newly developing domestic industries that are not yet as established as existing competitors.
AQA lists infant industries among the concepts relevant to the industrialisation debate.
The sociological significance is that simply opening a developing economy to global competition may not affect every producer equally.
New domestic industries may face competition from much larger or more established international producers.
This creates a debate about whether developing societies should:
integrate rapidly into global markets
or first build domestic industrial capacity
Trade and unequal competition
Trade takes place within a global economy in which societies and corporations do not necessarily possess equal resources.
This creates an important link to global inequality [Global inequality].
A neoliberal interpretation may see competition and participation in international markets as an opportunity.
Dependency approaches are more likely to ask whether global economic relationships are structured in ways that advantage already powerful societies or corporations.
The disagreement is therefore not over whether trade takes place, but over how power is distributed within trading relationships.
Neoliberal interpretations of trade
Neoliberalism is explicitly recognised in AQA's Global Development mark schemes.
A neoliberal interpretation generally places greater emphasis on participation in markets and global economic exchange as a route towards development.
The argument can be expressed as:
greater market participation → increased trade → expanded economic opportunities → economic growth → development
From this perspective, barriers preventing participation in international economic activity may restrict development.
Evaluating neoliberal views of trade
The main evaluative question is whether greater market participation produces benefits widely enough to count as development.
Even if trade increases economic output, it may not automatically show that:
poverty has fallen
inequality has narrowed
health has improved
education has improved
women have benefited equally
development is environmentally sustainable
AQA's 2023 mark scheme explicitly recognised these wider dimensions when evaluating whether economic measures give a satisfactory picture of development.
Dependency theory and trade
Dependency theory argues that underdevelopment is connected to unequal relationships between richer and poorer societies.
Trade is especially important from this perspective because developing societies participate in a global economic system shaped by existing inequalities.
Rather than assuming:
more trade = more development
dependency theorists ask:
What is being traded, who controls production, who receives the greatest benefits, and does the relationship increase or reduce dependency?
This builds on development and underdevelopment [Development and underdevelopment].
Trade and dependency
A dependency interpretation may argue that international economic relationships can reproduce underdevelopment where developing societies remain dependent on more powerful economies.
The analytical emphasis is on:
unequal global power
dependence
control of resources
relationships between developed and developing societies
AQA's modernisation mark scheme explicitly recognises dependency, underdevelopment, chain of dependency and cash crops when evaluating development.
Trade can therefore be used within an argument that development and underdevelopment are relational rather than simply the result of conditions within individual societies.
Trade may create opportunities as well as dependency
A strong answer should avoid portraying dependency theory as proof that international trade can never contribute to development.
AQA's materials also recognise:
production for export
new industries
employment
newly-industrialising societies
as relevant evidence.
The stronger judgement is therefore conditional:
Trade may contribute to development where it strengthens productive capacity and improves people's lives, but participation in trade alone does not guarantee this outcome.
Industrialisation
Industrialisation involves the expansion of industrial production alongside wider transformations in the economy and society.
AQA made industrialisation the focus of its 2025 Global Development 20-mark question.
The item stated that modernisation theorists regard industrialisation as essential because it involves:
economic change
social change
cultural change
that can transform societies and make them modern.
This makes industrialisation much broader than simply "building factories".
Industrialisation and modernisation theory
Modernisation theory provides the clearest argument that industrialisation is central to development.
The broad process is:
traditional economy → industrialisation → economic and social transformation → modern society
Rostow's modernisation theory emphasises stages of economic development and the achievement of economic take-off.
Industrialisation can therefore be interpreted as part of the transition towards sustained economic growth.
Industrialisation as economic transformation
Industrialisation changes what and how a society produces.
It may involve movement towards:
factory production
workshops
specialised occupations
increased formal-sector employment
production for domestic and international markets
AQA's 2024 mark scheme directly identifies increased factory and workshop employment as one effect of industrialisation.
Industrialisation can therefore alter the economic structure of a developing society.
Industrialisation and employment
AQA examined this relationship directly in 2024:
Outline and explain two ways in which industrialisation may affect employment in developing countries.
The mark scheme identifies several possible effects:
more people working in workshops and factories
more opportunities for women to enter paid employment
training and career-development opportunities
social mobility
fewer people working in farming and fishing
more permanent and secure employment
a more specialised division of labour
These provide particularly useful concrete examples of how industrialisation can change people's lives.
Factory and workshop employment
Industrialisation may shift employment towards factory and workshop production.
The process may be:
industrial activity expands → demand for industrial workers increases → employment moves towards factories and workshops
This can contribute to development if new employment provides:
income
stability
training
economic opportunities
TNCs may play a role in this process, linking industrialisation with transnational corporations [Transnational corporations].
The formal sector
AQA's 2024 mark scheme specifically identifies increased employment in the formal sector as one possible consequence of industrialisation.
Growth of formal employment may potentially provide workers with more stable economic opportunities.
This supports the modernisation argument that industrialisation changes economic structures rather than merely raising output.
However, not all industrial employment will necessarily provide identical levels of security or reward.
Industrialisation and women
Industrialisation can change gender relationships by increasing opportunities for women to enter paid employment.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme explicitly states that women may gain paid employment in societies where such opportunities were previously less available.
A possible chain is:
industrial expansion → new paid employment → more opportunities for women → greater economic independence → possible reduction in gender inequality
This links industrialisation with gender and development [Gender and development].
Employment does not automatically mean gender equality
A feminist evaluation would ask whether access to industrial employment leads to equality in:
wages
working conditions
occupational status
promotion
decision making
Industrialisation can increase women's access to paid work without eliminating wider gender inequalities.
This is important because AQA's 2025 industrialisation item specifically states that development can also be assessed through gender equality.
Industrialisation and training
Industrial employment may provide opportunities for workers to gain training and develop skills.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme identifies:
training
career development
social mobility
as possible consequences.
The analytical chain is:
industrial employment → training → increased skills → career opportunities → greater economic mobility
This creates a link to employment and education [Employment and education].
Industrialisation and the division of labour
AQA also recognises that industrialisation may produce a more specialised division of labour.
This means different workers increasingly perform specialised roles within industrial production.
The broader significance is that industrialisation can transform:
occupational structures
skills
organisation of production
the kinds of work available
It is therefore a social as well as an economic process.
Industrialisation and traditional employment
Industrialisation may reduce employment in activities such as:
farming
fishing
as workers move towards industrial occupations.
This demonstrates structural transformation.
However, the effect should not automatically be assumed to be positive.
AQA's 2024 examiner report notes that students successfully identified both:
increased employment
unemployment caused by the undermining of traditional employment patterns
as possible consequences of industrialisation.
Industrialisation can undermine existing employment
This gives an important evaluative chain:
industrial production expands → existing traditional economic activity declines → some workers lose previous livelihoods → unemployment or disruption may result
Therefore:
new industrial employment does not automatically mean every worker benefits
The overall development effect depends partly on whether new opportunities replace or exceed those that are lost.
Industrialisation and TNCs
TNCs may contribute to industrialisation by investing in production.
AQA's 2024 employment mark scheme explicitly uses work for TNCs as an example of new industrial employment.
TNC investment may potentially contribute through:
production
employment
training
skills
However, as explored in transnational corporations [Transnational corporations], some TNC activity is capital intensive and may have negative effects on local businesses or the environment.
Industrialisation should therefore not be evaluated separately from the organisations that drive it.
Export-oriented industrialisation
A society may use industrialisation to produce goods for international markets.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme specifically identifies export-oriented industrialisation as relevant.
This combines trade and industrialisation:
industrial capacity → manufactured goods → international trade → economic income and growth
Such strategies may support arguments that integration into the global economy allows developing societies to achieve rapid economic transformation.
Newly-industrialising countries
AQA's 2025 mark scheme identifies newly-industrialising countries as relevant evidence when evaluating the importance of industrialisation.
The significance of these societies is that they can be used as evidence that rapid industrial change may be associated with economic development.
However, exam answers should not simply name a country.
The 2025 examiner report specifically states that answers would often have been stronger with detailed examples of countries that have followed different paths to development.
A country example therefore needs to demonstrate a sociological argument.
The Asian tigers
AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly identifies the Asian tigers as possible relevant material in the industrialisation debate.
They may be used as part of an argument concerning societies that experienced substantial industrial and economic transformation.
The exam skill is not to reproduce a case study for its own sake.
Instead:
Use the example to test the claim that industrialisation is essential for development.
A good application would make clear what the example demonstrates about the relationship between industrial production and development.
Import substitution and domestic industrialisation
A different route emphasises developing industrial production within the domestic economy.
AQA's inclusion of import substitution and infant industries shows that industrialisation does not have to mean simply opening an economy to unrestricted international competition.
This creates an important evaluative point:
Societies may pursue industrialisation through different relationships with global trade.
Industrialisation is therefore not one single development strategy.
Trade versus industrialisation
Trade and industrialisation are related but should not be confused.
Trade | Industrialisation |
Concerns economic exchange between societies. | Concerns transformation towards industrial production. |
Can provide access to international markets. | Can alter employment and production structures. |
May involve exports and imports. | May create factories, workshops and specialised employment. |
Can occur without extensive domestic industrialisation. | May be linked to either domestic markets or international trade. |
Raises questions about global economic relationships. | Raises questions about economic, social and environmental transformation. |
In an exam, make sure you answer the process named in the question.
Modernisation theory: industrialisation is essential
The 2025 AQA item directly associates modernisation theorists with the view that industrialisation is essential for development.
A modernisation argument may emphasise:
economic growth
transformation of production
urbanisation
employment
social and cultural change
movement towards a modern society
Industrialisation can therefore become a key mechanism through which a developing society is expected to modernise.
Rostow and economic take-off
Rostow is one of the sources identified by AQA for the industrialisation question.
His modernisation approach sees societies moving through stages of economic development.
The concept of take-off refers to the point at which sustained economic development accelerates.
Industrialisation is therefore central to the modernisation argument because it can increase productive capacity and economic growth.
Strengths of the modernisation interpretation
The argument has some clear supporting evidence within AQA's own assessment material.
Industrialisation may:
create factories and workshops
increase formal employment
provide training
create career opportunities
increase opportunities for women
produce more specialised divisions of labour
It therefore has potentially significant effects on both the economy and wider society.
Limitations of modernisation theory
However, AQA expects the view that industrialisation is essential to be evaluated.
The 2025 mark scheme specifically suggests evaluation through:
dependency theory
people-centred development
post-development views
and also identifies:
sustainability
feminism
appropriate technology
grassroots development
as relevant concepts.
This means the strongest answer should challenge not only how industrialisation occurs, but whether industrialisation should be treated as the defining route to development at all.
Dependency theory and industrialisation
Dependency theorists may agree that industrial activity matters economically while disagreeing with modernisation theory about the global relationships surrounding it.
A dependency interpretation asks:
Who owns the industries?
Who controls investment?
Who receives the profits?
What role do TNCs play?
Does industrialisation reduce or reproduce dependence on powerful external economies?
This means industrial growth can occur without necessarily eliminating underdevelopment.
Industrialisation within unequal global relationships
Imagine a developing society expands industrial production through foreign investment.
A modernisation theorist might argue:
foreign investment → industrialisation → employment → growth → development
A dependency theorist may instead ask:
foreign-controlled production → continuing external economic power → dependence → unequal development
The same industrial growth can therefore receive very different sociological interpretations.
Neoliberalism and industrialisation
AQA also recognises neoliberalism as relevant to the 2025 industrialisation essay.
A neoliberal interpretation can emphasise participation in markets, trade and economic growth.
Industrialisation geared towards international economic activity may therefore be regarded as a route towards development.
This overlaps particularly with export-oriented industrialisation.
Evaluating neoliberalism
A critical question is whether market-led industrialisation:
strengthens the whole economy
benefits particular corporations or groups
creates secure employment
increases inequality
damages the environment
Economic growth must therefore be assessed alongside its social consequences.
Industrialisation and environmental damage
The 2025 AQA item explicitly identifies environmental damage as a negative aspect of industrialisation.
The relationship between industrialisation and development is therefore not purely economic.
Industrial expansion can increase:
use of natural resources
production
energy consumption
waste
pollution
AQA's 2022 environment question similarly contrasted early theories that assumed industrialisation and growth were essential with later concern about environmental sustainability.
This provides one of the strongest criticisms of treating industrialisation as automatically beneficial.
Industrialisation and sustainability
Sustainability concerns development that takes environmental consequences into account.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme identifies a wide range of relevant environmental concepts, including:
climate change
deforestation
pollution
non-renewable resources
sustainability
ecological footprints
appropriate technology
This means that successful industrialisation cannot be evaluated purely through increases in production.
A society might achieve economic growth while creating substantial environmental costs.
Economic growth versus sustainable development
Consider two possible judgements.
Economic judgement:
Industrial output and national income have increased, therefore development has occurred.
Sustainability judgement:
Economic output has increased, but development must also be judged according to resource use and environmental consequences.
The second is broader and reflects the debates recognised by AQA.
This prepares for urbanisation and the environment [Urbanisation and the environment].
Industrialisation can create environmental costs beyond one society
Environmental consequences may also cross national boundaries.
AQA's 2024 TNC question recognised environmental problems associated with:
resource extraction
waste
production
global heating
Industrialisation therefore demonstrates that development in one location can contribute to environmental effects experienced more widely.
This complicates claims that economic growth alone represents successful development.
Industrialisation and urbanisation
Industrialisation is closely connected to urbanisation.
The expansion of industrial employment may increase the economic importance of towns and cities and alter where people live and work.
AQA's 2025 industrialisation mark scheme explicitly identifies urbanisation among the relevant concepts for the debate.
The relationship between urbanisation and development is examined fully in urbanisation and the environment [Urbanisation and the environment].
Industrialisation and health
The 2025 question explicitly reminds students that development in health may occur without industrialisation.
This challenges the claim that industrial transformation is the only meaningful route to development.
It is possible to ask:
If people's health improves substantially without major industrial expansion, has development occurred?
A people-centred approach is likely to answer yes.
This demonstrates why definitions of development matter.
Industrialisation and education
The same point applies to education.
AQA's 2025 item states that development in education can occur without industrialisation.
This creates two possible relationships.
Industrialisation may increase demand for:
skills
training
specialised workers
but educational development can also be valuable in its own right rather than merely because it serves industry.
This relationship is explored in employment and education [Employment and education].
Industrialisation and gender equality
AQA also identifies gender equality as an area of development that may improve without industrialisation.
This creates an important distinction.
Industrialisation may provide women with additional opportunities for paid work.
However:
more paid employment for women ≠ complete gender equality
A feminist approach can therefore evaluate industrial development by asking how benefits are distributed between women and men.
Feminist interpretations
AQA includes feminisms and eco-feminism among concepts that may be used in the 2025 industrialisation essay.
Feminist perspectives encourage students to ask whether development strategies:
affect women and men differently
change women's employment opportunities
reduce gender inequalities
impose environmental or economic costs unevenly
This broadens evaluation beyond the national economy.
People-centred development
AQA explicitly suggests people-centred development as a perspective that may be used to evaluate whether industrialisation is essential.
People-centred approaches place greater emphasis on improvements in people's lives rather than treating industrial growth as the primary definition of development.
Relevant outcomes may include:
health
education
gender equality
living conditions
From this perspective:
A society does not necessarily need to industrialise extensively before meaningful development can occur.
Grassroots development
Grassroots development is also included in AQA's 2025 indicative content.
Grassroots approaches emphasise community-level development and local priorities.
They provide an alternative to large-scale industrial strategies.
The contrast can be summarised as:
Large-scale industrial development | Grassroots development |
Focuses heavily on economic transformation. | Focuses on local needs and participation. |
Often involves large organisations or investment. | May operate through smaller community projects. |
Can create employment and economic growth. | Can target health, education or local living conditions. |
May create significant environmental costs. | May place more emphasis on locally appropriate development. |
Neither approach is automatically successful.
Appropriate technology
AQA also recognises appropriate technology in the 2025 industrialisation mark scheme and the 2022 environment mark scheme.
The concept is useful for evaluating the assumption that development always requires the same type of large-scale industrial technology.
The broad sociological point is that technologies used for development can be assessed according to how suitable they are for:
local needs
available resources
environmental conditions
This supports approaches that reject a single universal route to development.
Post-development approaches
AQA explicitly identifies post-development as a perspective that can evaluate the view that industrialisation is essential.
Post-development approaches question assumptions that development should always mean movement towards the economic and social model followed by already industrialised societies.
Applied to this topic, the criticism is:
Why assume that every society must industrialise in the same way to count as developed?
This directly challenges the modernisation model.
Evaluating post-development
The strength of this approach is that it challenges one-size-fits-all models and draws attention to different possible development priorities.
However, critics may still ask how societies should address:
poverty
employment
lack of economic opportunities
if large-scale economic transformation is rejected.
A strong answer therefore does not simply replace "industrialisation is always necessary" with "industrialisation is always unnecessary".
Is industrialisation essential?
The word essential is very demanding.
To prove industrialisation is essential, it would be necessary to argue that genuine development cannot occur without it.
AQA's own 2025 item gives an immediate challenge by stating that improvements in:
health
education
gender equality
may be achieved without industrialisation.
Therefore, an excellent essay should distinguish between:
industrialisation can contribute to development
and
industrialisation is essential for all development
The second claim is much harder to defend.
Industrialisation can be significant without being essential
This is a particularly useful conclusion.
Industrialisation may have major effects on:
employment
economic growth
skills
occupational structures
women's employment
international trade
AQA's 2024 mark scheme provides direct evidence for many of these relationships.
But these effects do not prove that development is impossible without industrialisation.
Economic measures and the industrialisation debate
Industrialisation is particularly likely to appear successful when development is measured mainly through economic indicators.
AQA's 2023 examination directly challenged the view that economic measures alone give a satisfactory picture of development.
If development is measured through:
economic growth
Gross National Product or Income
poverty
industrialisation may appear especially important.
If broader indicators are included, the judgement may change.
Wider measures of industrial development
Industrialisation should therefore also be assessed through changes in:
health
education
gender equality
inequality
sustainability
well-being
AQA's 2023 mark scheme explicitly recognises these as relevant dimensions of development.
This gives you a simple evaluation question:
Industrialisation has increased economic output, but what else has changed?
Trade and industrialisation as mutually reinforcing processes
Trade and industrialisation can reinforce each other.
For example:
industrialisation → greater production → more goods available for export → increased trade
while:
access to global markets → greater demand → incentive to expand industrial production
This helps explain why export-oriented industrialisation is an important development concept in AQA's 2025 mark scheme.
Trade without broad development
However, increased trade may occur without substantial improvements in wider development.
A society could increase exports while:
inequality remains high
health improvements are limited
educational opportunities remain unequal
environmental degradation increases
Therefore, trade should be treated as a possible mechanism of development, not a measure proving that development has occurred.
Industrialisation without broad development
The same applies to industrialisation.
Industrial production could increase while:
some traditional workers lose employment
economic gains are unevenly distributed
environmental damage increases
gender inequalities persist
Industrialisation is therefore not synonymous with development.
Trade, industrialisation and globalisation
Trade and industrialisation are closely related to globalisation, political and economic relationships [Globalisation, political and economic relationships].
AQA's 2021 assessment recognised that globalisation may allow developing countries to:
establish new industries
produce more goods for export
gain employment and training through TNCs
This means trade and industrialisation can be understood as part of increasing global economic interconnectedness.
Trade and TNCs
TNCs may connect trade and industrialisation by establishing production across national boundaries.
They may provide:
capital
industrial employment
training
access to international markets
However, TNC involvement also raises questions about:
local businesses
corporate power
environmental effects
dependency
These issues were covered in transnational corporations [Transnational corporations].
Trade and aid
AQA explicitly places aid and trade together in the specification.
This encourages comparison between development strategies.
Aid involves transferring resources towards developing societies.
Trade attempts to create or use economic relationships through exchange.
A simplistic contrast might be:
"Trade is better because countries earn their own money."
However, dependency theorists would challenge this by arguing that trading relationships may themselves be unequal.
Therefore:
trade rather than aid does not automatically eliminate dependency.
Trade, industrialisation and debt
AQA's 2025 industrialisation mark scheme also identifies aid and debt alongside trade and industrialisation.
This shows how development strategies overlap.
Industrial expansion may involve:
foreign investment
international agencies
aid
borrowing
trade
An exam answer can therefore gain depth by explaining how these relationships interact rather than treating each as an isolated topic.
Trade and the environment
International trade can increase the scale at which goods are produced and distributed.
Where this encourages industrialisation, environmental impacts may also increase.
AQA's 2022 environmental mark scheme recognises:
pollution
climate change
resource use
consumerism
industrialisation
sustainability
within the development debate.
This means a development strategy based on increasing production and trade can be evaluated according to its environmental consequences.
Consumerism
AQA includes consumerism within the industrialisation and environment debates.
Industrialisation increases the capacity to produce goods, while global trade increases their potential markets.
This may encourage greater consumption.
Critics concerned with sustainability can therefore question development models that depend on continuously increasing industrial production and consumption.
Newly industrialising countries as evidence
Examples of newly industrialising societies can provide useful evidence for the argument that industrialisation contributes strongly to economic development.
However, the 2025 examiner report gives a very specific warning.
Students often knew theories of industrialisation but lacked detailed examples of countries following different development paths.
So, in an essay, avoid:
"The Asian tigers prove industrialisation works."
Instead explain what the example is intended to show and then evaluate whether it demonstrates:
economic growth only
or wider development as well
Country examples should test theories
A strong use of evidence follows this pattern:
Theory: modernisation predicts industrialisation contributes to development.
Evidence: a society experiences substantial industrial transformation and economic growth.
Analysis: this supports the claim that industrialisation can contribute to economic development.
Evaluation: it does not necessarily prove industrialisation is essential, because other dimensions of development may improve through different strategies.
This is much stronger than a memorised case study.
Modernisation, dependency and people-centred approaches compared
Perspective | View of trade and industrialisation | Main evaluation issue |
Modernisation theory | Industrialisation is central to transforming societies and achieving economic take-off. | May assume societies should follow a similar path to earlier industrialised countries. |
Neoliberalism | Participation in markets and international trade may create growth and economic opportunities. | Benefits may be uneven and growth may not produce wider development. |
Dependency theory | Trade and industrial activity may occur within unequal global economic relationships. | Can underestimate cases where global economic integration contributes to substantial development. |
People-centred development | Development should be judged by improvements in people's lives rather than industrial output alone. | May give less emphasis to the resources generated by large-scale economic transformation. |
Post-development | Questions whether industrialisation should be treated as a universal route to development. | Still needs to address poverty and limited economic opportunity. |
Feminist approaches | Ask whether industrial development improves women's opportunities and reduces gender inequalities. | Gender is one important dimension among several development outcomes. |
Sustainability approaches | Industrialisation should be evaluated through environmental as well as economic outcomes. | Limiting environmental damage can create difficult choices about economic expansion. |
Three questions for evaluating trade
When evaluating trade as a development strategy, ask:
1. What is being produced and traded?
Does the economy develop greater productive capacity?
2. Who benefits?
Do employment, income and opportunities spread widely?
3. Does trade reduce dependency?
Does greater participation in international markets strengthen the society's development, or maintain unequal relationships?
These questions prevent vague statements such as "trade is good for the economy".
Five questions for evaluating industrialisation
1. Does industrialisation produce economic growth?
If yes, this supports modernisation and neoliberal arguments.
2. Does it create good employment?
Consider the number, type, security and accessibility of jobs.
3. Who gains?
Consider gender and wider inequalities.
4. What are the environmental consequences?
Growth that causes major environmental damage may not be sustainable.
5. Could the same development outcomes be achieved another way?
This directly tests whether industrialisation is genuinely essential.
Building analytical chains
For trade:
international market access → increased exports → greater production → economic growth → possible development
For export-oriented industrialisation:
industrial expansion → production for export → international income → economic growth → development
For employment:
industrialisation → factories and workshops expand → paid employment increases → income and training opportunities → possible development
For gender:
industrialisation → new paid work → women gain employment → greater economic independence → possible reduction in gender inequality
For dependency:
participation in global trade → unequal relationship with more powerful actors → continuing external dependence → underdevelopment may persist
For the environment:
industrial production expands → resource use and pollution increase → environmental damage → development becomes less sustainable
Turning description into evaluation
Weak:
Industrialisation creates factories and jobs.
Better:
Industrialisation can increase factory employment, providing wages, training and opportunities for career development. This supports modernisation theory because industrial transformation can increase economic opportunities.
Stronger:
However, the 2024 AQA material also recognises that industrialisation may undermine traditional employment. Therefore, the effect on development depends on whether new industrial opportunities compensate for work that is lost.
That final step turns knowledge into evaluation.
Evaluating the word "essential"
If asked whether industrialisation is essential, keep returning to this exact word.
A paragraph may show industrialisation is:
helpful
significant
strongly associated with development
without proving it is essential.
The 2025 item deliberately gives students health, education and gender equality as development outcomes that can be achieved without industrialisation.
A sophisticated conclusion can therefore distinguish:
Industrialisation may be an important route to economic transformation without being a necessary condition for every dimension of development.
Trade is also not necessarily essential
The same reasoning applies to trade.
Trade may provide:
markets
economic opportunities
exports
growth
but successful development cannot be demonstrated from trade volume alone.
The importance of trade depends on:
the nature of trading relationships
domestic productive capacity
distribution of economic gains
wider development outcomes
Overall sociological judgement
Trade and industrialisation can make a major contribution to development.
Trade may connect developing societies with international markets, while industrialisation can transform:
production
employment
skills
occupational structures
women's access to paid work
AQA's 2024 assessment provides clear evidence of these possible employment effects, and its 2025 mark scheme recognises a range of industrial strategies including export-oriented industrialisation, import substitution and support for infant industries.
However, neither trade nor industrialisation should be equated automatically with development.
Dependency perspectives question unequal economic relationships, while people-centred, feminist and sustainability approaches ask whether industrial growth actually improves people's lives and whether its environmental costs are acceptable.
The strongest overall judgement is therefore that trade and industrialisation can be powerful routes to economic development, but their contribution depends on the type of strategy, the distribution of benefits and whether development is judged more broadly than economic growth alone. Industrialisation may be highly significant without being essential for every form of development.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Trade | Economic exchange of goods or services between societies. | Explain how international economic relationships may contribute to or restrict development. |
Industrialisation | Expansion of industrial production accompanied by wider economic, social and cultural change. | Explain transformations in employment, production and development. |
Export-oriented industrialisation | Industrial development focused strongly on producing goods for international markets. | Explain how industrialisation and international trade may combine to promote economic growth. |
Import substitution | Development of domestic industries to produce goods that would otherwise be imported. | Compare different industrial development strategies. |
Infant industry | A newly developing domestic industry that is not yet as established as existing competitors. | Evaluate whether emerging industries can compete immediately within global markets. |
Modernisation theory | An approach that sees economic and social transformation, including industrialisation, as central to development. | Support the view that industrialisation promotes economic take-off. |
Dependency theory | An explanation linking underdevelopment to unequal relationships between more and less powerful societies. | Evaluate whether trade and industrialisation reduce or reproduce global dependency. |
Neoliberalism | An approach emphasising market-based economic development and participation in economic exchange. | Explain arguments supporting greater integration into global trade. |
Sustainability | Development that considers environmental consequences and the ability to continue into the future. | Evaluate environmental costs of industrial growth. |
Newly-industrialising country | A society experiencing substantial expansion of industrial production and economic transformation. | Use evidence to evaluate claims about industrialisation and development. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: This is a particularly important lesson because industrialisation was the focus of the 2025 20-mark Global Development question. Most students knew modernisation and dependency theories, but the examiner report says many did not relate them clearly enough to industrialisation itself.
Examiner hint: Use theory to explain the process, not as a memorised block. For example, do not spend a paragraph explaining all of modernisation theory before mentioning industrialisation. Start with industrialisation, then use Rostow or modernisation to explain why it might produce development.
Examiner hint: The 2025 report states that answers would often have been stronger with detailed examples of societies that followed different paths to development. Country examples need to support or challenge a sociological argument, rather than simply being named.
Examiner hint: The 2024 examiner report found that most students could identify employment effects of industrialisation, but some found it difficult to develop their points. Better responses used modernisation or dependency theory to create an analytical route.
Examiner hint: The 2024 report recognised both increasing employment and unemployment caused by the undermining of traditional employment patterns. This is a useful reminder not to assume industrialisation has only one effect.
Examiner hint: AQA's 2025 general guidance stresses that the strongest 20-mark answers use a limited range of perspectives in depth, apply them directly to the question and reach a reasoned judgement. Listing every theory you know is less effective.
Examiner hint: Pay close attention to the wording "essential for development". Evidence that industrialisation helps development is not automatically evidence that development cannot occur without it.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating trade and industrialisation as the same process
Why this is incorrect: Trade concerns economic exchange, while industrialisation concerns transformation towards industrial production.
How to improve: Explain how they can interact, for example through export-oriented industrialisation, while keeping the concepts distinct.
Mistake: Saying industrialisation just means "more factories"
Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2025 item describes industrialisation as involving economic, social and cultural changes that transform societies.
How to improve: Discuss employment, occupational structures, gender opportunities, economic growth and wider social changes alongside industrial production.
Mistake: Assuming industrialisation always creates employment
Why this is incorrect: The 2024 examiner report recognises that industrialisation may also undermine traditional employment patterns.
How to improve: Compare jobs created with livelihoods that may be lost or transformed.
Mistake: Saying industrialisation is essential because it can cause development
Why this is incorrect: Showing that something can contribute to an outcome does not prove that it is necessary for that outcome.
How to improve: Ask whether development in health, education or gender equality can occur without industrialisation.
Mistake: Writing all you know about modernisation theory
Why this is incorrect: This was specifically identified as a weakness in the 2025 examiner report.
How to improve: Use modernisation only to explain why industrialisation might contribute to development.
Mistake: Assuming more exports automatically mean more development
Why this is incorrect: Export growth shows economic activity but not necessarily how benefits are distributed or whether wider development has occurred.
How to improve: Connect exports to employment, income, inequality and wider development outcomes.
Mistake: Presenting dependency theory as "trade is bad"
Why this is incorrect: Dependency theory makes a more precise argument about unequal relationships and power.
How to improve: Explain who controls production and trade, who benefits and whether participation reduces or reproduces dependence.
Mistake: Treating economic growth as the only measure of success
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises health, education, gender equality and sustainability as dimensions of development.
How to improve: Use wider indicators to evaluate whether industrial growth has improved people's lives.
Mistake: Ignoring environmental consequences
Why this is incorrect: Environmental damage appears explicitly in AQA's 2025 industrialisation item and was central to the 2022 development question.
How to improve: Evaluate industrialisation through sustainability as well as economic growth.
Mistake: Naming the Asian tigers without explaining why
Why this is incorrect: An unexplained country example does not demonstrate analysis.
How to improve: State what the example shows about industrialisation, then evaluate whether it supports the claim that industrialisation is essential rather than merely useful.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
What is meant by industrialisation? (1 mark)
Question 2
Explain one way in which international trade may contribute to development. (4 marks)
Question 3
Explain two differences between export-oriented industrialisation and import substitution. (6 marks)
Question 4
Outline and explain two ways in which trade may affect development in developing societies. (10 marks)
Question 5
Outline and explain two ways in which industrialisation may affect employment in developing countries. (10 marks)
Question 6
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
A developing society expands industrial production and begins selling more manufactured goods in international markets. This creates new factory employment and training opportunities. However, some traditional forms of employment decline as the economy changes.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which industrialisation may affect development. (10 marks)
Question 7
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Some developing societies have attempted to achieve development by expanding industrial production for international markets. Others have tried to strengthen domestic industries before relying extensively on global markets.
Different relationships between trade and industrialisation may affect development.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which trade strategies may influence industrial development. (10 marks)
Question 8
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Some sociologists argue that industrialisation is central to development because it transforms production, creates employment and contributes to economic growth. Participation in international trade may provide markets for the goods that new industries produce.
Other sociologists argue that industrialisation can damage the environment and occur within unequal global economic relationships. Improvements in health, education and gender equality may also occur without industrialisation.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that trade and industrialisation are essential for development. (20 marks)
Answers and mark scheme
Question 1
Answer: The expansion of industrial forms of production together with associated economic and social transformation. (1 mark)
Award one mark for an accurate definition.
Question 2
Up to 4 marks for one developed explanation.
A strong answer could explain that trade allows producers in a developing society to sell goods to international markets. This may increase demand for production, contributing to employment and economic growth and therefore potentially to development.
For full marks, the student should explain the development chain rather than simply saying that trade "makes money".
Question 3
Award marks for two developed differences.
Difference 1: market focus
Export-oriented industrialisation focuses heavily on producing goods for international markets, whereas import substitution focuses on expanding domestic production of goods that would otherwise be imported.
Difference 2: development strategy
Export-oriented industrialisation relies more directly on access to overseas markets. Import substitution places greater initial emphasis on developing domestic industrial capacity.
Students should make direct comparisons rather than provide two unrelated definitions.
Question 4
A high-level response should develop two distinct ways.
Possible answers include:
Exports and economic growth
Trade may allow developing societies to sell goods to larger international markets. Increased demand can encourage production and economic growth, potentially contributing to development.
Industrial development
Access to international markets may encourage export-oriented industrialisation. Industrial expansion can create employment and increase productive capacity.
Critical answers may also develop:
unequal trading relationships
dependency
competition affecting domestic or infant industries
uneven distribution of benefits
For high marks, each point should explain the relationship between trade and development.
Question 5
A high-level response should develop two distinct effects.
Possible answers include:
Factory employment
Industrialisation may lead to more people working in workshops and factories, including those operated by TNCs. This can increase access to paid employment.
Training and career development
Industrial employment may provide training and skills, creating opportunities for career development and social mobility.
Other valid material includes:
increased opportunities for women
more formal-sector employment
decline of farming and fishing employment
increased employment security
a more specialised division of labour
unemployment resulting from the disruption of traditional employment
AQA's 2024 mark scheme explicitly recognises these effects.
Question 6
A strong response should develop two separate hooks from Item A.
Possible way 1: new factory employment
The item states that industrialisation creates new factory employment and training. Workers may gain wages and skills, increasing their economic opportunities. Modernisation theorists may see this structural transformation as part of development.
Possible way 2: declining traditional employment
The item states that traditional forms of employment decline. Some workers may lose existing livelihoods as production changes. Therefore, industrialisation can create new economic opportunities while also producing disruption or unemployment for others.
The strongest response will recognise that these consequences can occur simultaneously.
Question 7
A high-level answer should make use of both development strategies in Item B.
Possible way 1: export-oriented industrialisation
The item refers to industrial production for international markets. Access to overseas consumers may allow industries to expand production, increasing economic activity and potentially employment and growth.
Possible way 2: strengthening domestic industries
The item refers to societies developing domestic industry before relying extensively on global markets. This may allow infant industries to develop productive capacity before facing stronger international competition.
Analysis may compare neoliberal arguments favouring global market participation with approaches that place greater emphasis on building domestic capacity.
Question 8
A strong 20-mark answer should focus carefully on the word essential.
Arguments supporting the view may include:
modernisation theory
Rostow
economic take-off
transformation from traditional to modern forms of production
industrial economic growth
factory and workshop employment
formal-sector employment
training and skills
career development and social mobility
increased opportunities for women
specialised division of labour
export-oriented industrialisation
international trade
newly-industrialising countries
Asian tigers
neoliberalism
access to international markets
Modernisation theory may argue that:
industrialisation transforms the economy and wider society
employment shifts into industrial production
industrialisation contributes to sustained economic growth
trade can provide markets for industrial goods
these processes enable societies to move towards modern development
Neoliberal approaches may argue that:
participation in international markets creates economic opportunities
trade and competition may promote growth
export-oriented industrialisation can integrate developing societies into the global economy
Arguments challenging the view may include:
dependency theory
unequal global trading relationships
external control of industrial production
disruption of traditional employment
environmental damage
pollution and resource use
sustainability
people-centred development
grassroots development
post-development approaches
appropriate technology
feminist approaches
A key challenge to the word "essential" is that development may occur without industrialisation.
AQA's 2025 Item L explicitly identifies:
health
education
gender equality
as areas in which development can occur without industrialisation.
Students may also evaluate the different forms of industrial strategy through:
export-oriented industrialisation
import substitution
infant industries
TNC involvement
trade
aid
debt
Environmental evaluation may include:
industrialisation increasing pollution
pressure on natural resources
unsustainable production
climate change
the argument that economic growth should not occur at the expense of future development
Evaluation of employment may include:
industrialisation creates factory and formal-sector jobs
women may gain additional paid-work opportunities
training and career development may increase
some traditional forms of employment may be undermined
economic transformation may therefore produce both winners and losers
Wider evaluation should distinguish economic growth from development.
AQA's 2023 material makes clear that development may also involve:
health
gender equality
sustainability
education
poverty and inequality
For the highest marks, students should avoid separate blocks of theory. Modernisation, neoliberalism, dependency, feminist and people-centred approaches should be used to evaluate the same processes of trade and industrialisation.
A well-supported conclusion might argue that industrialisation has been a highly significant route to economic transformation and can create employment, skills and productive capacity. International trade can support this by providing markets for industrial output. However, the claim that either process is universally essential is too strong. Development can occur in areas such as health, education and gender equality without extensive industrialisation, while the environmental and distributional effects of industrial growth can limit its contribution. The significance of trade and industrialisation therefore depends on the strategy followed, the power relationships involved and how broadly development is defined.
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