World History Fulton/ Westerfield

1. World HistoryFulton/Westerfield Chapter 13 Industrial Revolution Section 4 “Living and Working Conditions

2. Bellringer • Turn in your Day 3 Homework if you haven’t already. • Write a paragraph at least 5 sentences about the rise of industrialization.

3. Economic Theories • During the Enlightenment, thinkers called Physiocrats attacked the philosophy called mercantilism. Mercantilism dictated that there was a set amount of wealth in the world and that countries had to take wealth away from each other. • Physiocrats disagreed. They believed natural laws should govern economic life and any attempt to interfere with these laws would bring disaster.

4. Economic Theories • Adam Smith, a Scottish economist wrote a book called Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in which he focused on creating wealth and said that manufacturing was important just like agriculture. He is considered the founder of classical economics.

5. Economic Theories • Smith stated that there were two natural laws that governed business: • Law of supply and demand—prices and profits depended on amount of available goods and the demand for those goods; scarcity and high demand of a good meant people would pay higher prices • Law of competition—as manufacturers compete with each other to sell their goods, they must reduce their prices

6. Economic Theories • Smith believed that people should be free to engage in whatever business they chose and to be able to run that business to their greatest advantage resulting in profits, people having jobs, and consumers having better goods at lower prices. • He argues that mercantilist laws hindered this. His system was one of free enterprise, which is economic forces worked automatically and naturally and justified unrestricted competition.

7. Malthus and Ricardo • Thomas Malthus, an economist who supported Smith’s ideas, wrote about the effects of the size of population on society. • He said that in spite of famine, epidemics, and wars, people still reproduce faster than the food supply. So, misery and poverty were inevitable.

8. Malthus and Ricardo • British economist David Ricardo wrote that supply and demand determine wages. When labor is plentiful, wages were low. When labor is scare, wages rise. As the population rises, wages would then fall. This idea became known as the “iron law of wages.” • The new social science of economics became known as the “dismal science” because of views and writings from Malthus and Ricardo.

9. Laissez-faire • Many thinkers and supporters of people like Adam Smith did not think the government should get involved in the operations of business. • These ideas can be summed up in the French phrase laissez-faire, which means “let it be,” “leave things alone,” or “hands off.”

10. Reformers Arise • Some people disagreed and said that businesses should not be completely left alone. • Humanitarians—people who work to improve the conditions of others—such as British author Charles Dickens urged reforms. • Many argued that laws were needed to regulate work hours and to set basic standards for wages and working conditions.

11. Reformers Arise • People such as Jeremy Bentham believed in a philosophy called utilitarianism which stated that a law was useful if it led to the “greatest happiness of the greatest number” of people. • These people wanted government to step in and to work for the good of all of its citizens. This meant protecting children and improving housing and factory conditions.

12. Reformers Arise • Other reformers such as John Stuart Mill argued for full democracy and for equality of men and women, regardless of their social class or economic power.

13. Early Reform Laws • The British Parliament passed a series of laws to address the working conditions women and children faced in the factories and mines. • Laws such as the Factory Act of 1802 shortened hours and improved conditions for children in cotton mills. The Factory Act of 1833 extended to all textile mills and was a better way to enforce the laws. • These laws prohibited children at certain ages working longer than a certain number of hours each day. In 1847, the Ten Hours Act set a 10-hour work day for women and for children under age 18. Conditions, however, remained harsh and wages did not improve.

14. Collective Action • Workers began to demand better wages and better working conditions by organizing and protesting. When workers band together and organize, they form unions. When unions protest for better pay and better working conditions, this is called a strike.

15. Collective Action • Some strikes that began as a protest over wages and working conditions spilled over into greater issues society was facing such as the general working conditions and living conditions of the working class. • Some strikes called for the reorganization of society to eliminate differences between rich and poor.

16. Collective Action • Workers associations—unions—were considered illegal by British, French, and German law. • In 1799 and 1800, the British Parliament passed the Combination Acts which said that workers who united to demand higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions could be imprisoned. • In 1825 the Combination Acts were repealed. In the 1870s Parliament passed laws that legalized strikes. Unions were allowed to speak for the workers and to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions. This kind of negotiation is called collective bargaining.