THE INDUSTRIAL MIDDLE CLASS IR creates new middle class group BOURGEOISIE = the middle class = people involved in commerce, industry, banking, and professionals New industrial businesses = intense competition/frequent bankruptcy Indust. Entrepreneurs = very resourceful/came from diverse backgrounds By 1850: 1. dev. of a new business aristocracy 2. mass fortunes, passed down to children 3. begin to acquire social respectability and political power

WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE Largest group of urban workers in 1 st half of 19 th century = artisans/craftspeople 1.shoemakers, glove makers, book binders, printers, bricklayers 2.Did not work in factories 3.Top of the working class social scale 4.Tended to support movements against industrialization *another large group in the working class was servants 1.Often women 2.No skills

WORKING CONDITIONS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL WORKING CLASS 1.Long hours = hr. days/6 days per wk. 2.No job security 3.No minimum wage 4.Dangerous workplace environment – hot, cold, dirty, unhealthy 5.Children and women worked in factories and mines

WHY WERE CHILDREN USED AS A SOURCE OF LABOR? 1. low pay 2. small and could more easily move around large industrial equipment 3. more easily trained and molded to do factory work

WOMEN IN FACTORY WORK 1. large and important part of the work force 2. paid less than men 3. did not cause a major change in female working patterns -> women still mostly did womens work *entire families = men, women, children worked together in the early factories