---
title: "Characteristics of agriculture, industrial and information age"
subject: "Technology, Environment and Society"
chapter: 1
key: "semester_7/technology_environment_and_society:agriculture-industrial-info-age"
source: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/agriculture-industrial-info-age
site: BCT Engineering
---

# Characteristics of agriculture, industrial and information age

Technology, Environment and Society · Chapter 1: Technology

- Asked in: 2073 Shrawan, 8 marks
- Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort) on 2026-10-14
- Page: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/agriculture-industrial-info-age
- Whole chapter: https://www.bctengineer.com/md/semester_7/technology_environment_and_society/chapter-1

## Question

What are characteristics of agriculture, industrial and information age?

## Short answer

The agricultural age relied on land and labour with simple tools and village life. The industrial age used capital, machines and fossil energy, creating factories and urbanisation. The information age depends on knowledge and data, using computers and the internet, with service economies, knowledge workers and remote work.

## Answer

Human society has passed through three main stages of economic development (Alvin Toffler's "three waves"): the **agricultural age**, the **industrial age** and the **information age**. Each is defined by its main resource, technology and way of life.

#### Agricultural age (about 10,000 years ago to mid-18th century)
- **Main resource:** land and human/animal labour.
- **Technology:** simple tools (plough, sickle, hoe), irrigation canals, animal power, water mills.
- **Economy:** subsistence farming; barter and local trade.
- **Settlement:** small villages; most people lived in rural areas.
- **Society:** joint families, strong community ties, caste/feudal hierarchy; landlords held power.
- **Work:** seasonal, family-based; children worked on farms.
- **Knowledge:** traditional, passed orally from generation to generation; low literacy.
- **Environment:** low pollution; local deforestation for farmland.

#### Industrial age (about 1760 to 1970s)
- **Main resource:** capital, machines, raw materials and fossil energy (coal, oil).
- **Technology:** steam engine, electricity, railways, internal combustion engine, assembly lines.
- **Economy:** mass production of standard goods; factories; national markets; capitalism.
- **Settlement:** rapid urbanisation around factories.
- **Society:** nuclear families, working class and capitalist class, trade unions.
- **Work:** fixed hours, wage labour, division of labour, blue-collar jobs.
- **Knowledge:** formal schooling spread; engineering and science grew.
- **Environment:** heavy air and water pollution, resource depletion, start of greenhouse gas build-up.

#### Information age (about 1970s to present)
- **Main resource:** information and knowledge.
- **Technology:** computers, microprocessors, internet, mobile phones, satellites, AI.
- **Economy:** service and knowledge economy; e-commerce; global markets.
- **Settlement:** urban but less tied to location; remote work possible.
- **Society:** networked society, individualism, social media communities.
- **Work:** knowledge workers, flexible hours, freelancing, lifelong learning.
- **Knowledge:** instant access to global information; high literacy needed.
- **Environment:** cleaner production possible, but e-waste and energy demand of data centres.

#### Summary
| Basis | Agricultural | Industrial | Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key resource | Land | Capital, machines | Knowledge, data |
| Energy | Human, animal | Coal, oil | Electricity |
| Workplace | Farm | Factory | Office/anywhere |
| Worker | Farmer | Factory worker | Knowledge worker |
| Family | Joint | Nuclear | Nuclear/individual |
| Power holders | Landlords | Industrialists | Information owners |

Nepal is still largely agricultural, with some industry and a fast-growing information sector (IT outsourcing, digital payments), so it shows features of all three ages at once.

## Check yourself

The answer's key points as multiple-choice questions, with the correct option and why.

1. Match the ages to main resources correctly.
   A. Agricultural: land; Industrial: capital and machines; Information: knowledge
   B. Agricultural: machines; Industrial: land; Information: oil
   C. Agricultural: knowledge; Industrial: land; Information: coal
   D. Agricultural: capital; Industrial: knowledge; Information: land
   Answer: A. Land, capital/machines and knowledge/data respectively. (Key point: Main resource)

2. Which pairing of age and typical family is correct?
   A. Agricultural: joint family; Industrial: nuclear family
   B. Agricultural: nuclear; Industrial: joint
   C. Both joint
   D. Industrial: tribal
   Answer: A. Joint families in the agricultural age and nuclear families in the industrial age. (Key point: Family and settlement)

3. Which environmental effect is typical of the industrial age?
   A. Heavy air and water pollution and resource depletion
   B. Low pollution only
   C. E-waste only
   D. No effect
   Answer: A. Coal and oil use caused heavy pollution and start of greenhouse build-up. (Key point: Environment)

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- [Industrial vs information age; information as wealth](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Ftechnology_environment_and_society%3Aindustrial-vs-info-age-wealth) — Technology, Environment and Society, chapter 1, asked 2×
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