What do some historians argue about the industry in relation to mass production methods?

• A. It resisted adopting mass production methods.
• B. It fundamentally transformed the industry by enabling it to take advantage of mass production methods for the first time.
• C. It adopted mass production but only in a limited way.
• D. It relied on traditional craft methods.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that when an industry adopts mass production methods, it can be transformed in a fundamental way—shifting from craft-based, irregular production to standardized, factory-based manufacturing that can produce at much larger scales.

This option captures the turning-point impact historians emphasize: embracing mass production isn’t just adding new techniques; it changes how products are made, how labor is organized, and how parts are standardized and exchanged. The result is a dramatic increase in speed, output, and consistency, reshaping the industry’s entire structure and capabilities for the first time.

Other scenarios describe little or no change or only partial use, which wouldn’t reflect the sense of a transformative shift that historians associate with the arrival of mass production.