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The Transformative Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society and Urbanization

The Industrial Revolution brought about profound changes in society, notably the significant growth of cities and the emergence of new social classes, including the industrial middle class and the working class. Between 1750 and 1850, Europe's population surged from 140 million to 266 million, driven by declining death rates and improved nutrition. Urbanization led to harsh working conditions in factories and mines, with long hours, low wages, and child labor challenges. Despite poor living conditions in cities, individuals migrated for regular wages. Reformers advocated for socialism to address inequalities, while government intervention remained minimal.

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The Transformative Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society and Urbanization

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  1. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DRASTICALLY CHANGES SOCIETY: • Cities grow • 2 new social classes emerge • Industrial middle class • Industrial working class

  2. CITIES: POPULATION AND URBAN GROWTH: • European population: • 1750 --- 140 million • 1850 --- 266 million • Why the increase? • Death rates decline • Better fed people are more resistant to disease

  3. INDUSTRIALIZATION SPURRED URBANIZATION-----LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE MIGRATE TO CITIES TO WORK IN FACTORIES • INDUSTRIAL MIDDLE CLASS • New middle class group • People who built the factories, bought machines and developed the markets • INDUSTRIAL WORKING CLASS • Faced wretched working conditions • Working conditions 12-16 hr day, 6 days a week • No security of employment, no minimum wage

  4. WORKING CONDITIONS • Whole families worked; several family members needed to work to stay alive • Children 9 and up worked legally • Orphans – work for food and bed (straw beds) • Coals Mines • Men dug out the coal --- led to cave ins, explosions, gas fumes • Deformed bodies (cramped conditions) • Ruined lungs (due to dampness of the mines) • Life expectancy 10 years less than those not working in the mines • Cotton Mills • Dirty, dusty, dangerous and unhealthy • Locked in for the work day (summer and winter)

  5. FACTORY ACT OF 1833 • Law that made it illegal to hire children under 9; children 9-13 not permitted to work more than 8 hrs per day; children 14-18 not more than 12 hrs • Effects of the law: • Child labor limited • Women reduced to 50% of the workforce • Women paid half or less than ½ of what men were paid • When the hours of children and women were limited a new pattern of work appeared: • Men earned most of the money by working outside the home • Women took over daily care of family and performed low paying jobs that could be done in the home

  6. LIVING CONDITIONS FOR CITY DWELLERS: • Cities grew but there was no plan for the growth • Streets • narrow and full of garbage and human waste • Unpaved • No drainage or sewage • Building black from soot • Families lived in 1-2 rooms • Lots of disease --- cholera • Malnutrition common • Animals roam the city • Rivers filled with waste

  7. With such poor conditions in the city why did people keep moving there? • Country life was harsh • Factory worker could get regular wages

  8. EARLY SOCIALISM • Transition to factory work was not easy • Family life disrupted • Separation from the countryside • Working hours long • Pay was low

  9. Reformers advocate socialism (society (in the form of a government) owns and controls some means of production such as factories and utilities • Socialists believed that public ownership of the means of production would allow wealth to be more evenly distributed

  10. WHAT ROLE DID GOVERNMENT PLAY IN BUSINESS AT THIS TIME? • Laissez Faire – the government will maintain law and order, but will stay out of the economy and social problems

  11. HOW DID ENGLANDS’ INDUSTRILIZATION PROBLEMS COMPARE WITH THOSE OF OTHER COUNTRIES? • England’s problems were the worst and other countries learned from their mistakes

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