Social Effects Of and Responses to Industrialization

Population Increase From 1750 to 1850, the population of the British Isles rose 200% Most people found themselves in the new industrial cities of Lancashire and the Midlands Manchester came to symbolize the problems of the new industrial city Many migrants to the cities were driven by famine in Ireland or landlessness in the countryside

Working and Living Conditions Initial factory conditions were deplorable Worked 14 hours per day Strict rules punished tardiness and fraternization among workers Owners preferred children as laborers, as well as women

In coal mines and factories, laborers were exposed to toxic substances and particles Workers found themselves living by a regimented schedule and subject of fatigue that could be deadly

Living conditions mirrored those of the workplace City streets, housing and sewage disposal could not keep up Cramped housing and diseases reduced life expectancies Air and water pollution rendered breathing and drinking dangerous Increase in crime, pollution, alcoholism, and family breakdown

The family was transformed from a unit of production to a unit of consumption Mechanization of labor set the precedent for moving work from the home to a process managed by the owners of capital Once Parliament passed legislation protecting women and children, family life further separated between productive men and domestic women

New Industrial Classes The industrial middle class gained wealth and status from the profits of industry The unskilled working class, or proletariat, were forced to sell their labor at a disadvantage Industrial workers could exercise little influence on politics

Responses: Reform, Rebellion and Rejection The responses to industrialization range from open acceptance to complete rejection Many people recognized the obvious problems with industrialization but believed these evil side effects naturally attended all economic systems

Eventually problems became too pronounced for any but the most hardened capitalist to ignore In 1832, Parliament appointed the Sadler Commission to investigate child labor in mines and factories Parliament passed the Factory Acts of 1833

Edwin Chadwick highlighted the need for improved sewage and sanitary conditions in the crowded and polluted cities Parliament responded with the Public Health Act of 1848

Workers voiced a more fundamental need for change It became clear that as individuals, they could do little or nothing to change the system To exert more collective power, laborers formed unions Skilled engineers formed the first trade union in 1851 (Amalgamated Society of Engineers)

The more radical Grand National Consolidated Trade Union attempted to organize all industrial workers for strikes and labor agitation The British government looked with hostility on efforts at worker organization

Many laborers favored more direct political activity The Chartists employed petitions, mass meetings, and agitation to achieve universal male suffrage and the payment of salaries to Parliament

Luddhism Represented and outright rejection of the principle of mechanization of labor Planned the destruction of knitting frames and spinning devices they perceived as taking their skilled jobs The British government crushed the movement by exiling or executing those involved