SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

PEOPLE MOVE TO CITIES  Entrepreneurs –Became wealthy as a result of the Industrial Revolution  Workers –Exposed to poverty and horrible living conditions –Suffered dangerous working conditions –Had unsafe and unsanitary working conditions

 Urbanization –Movement of people to the cities –Changes in farming, growing population and an increasing demand for workers led people to move from farms to cities

NEW SOCIAL CLASSES EMERGE  Industrial Revolution created a new middle class and a new working class  Middle Class owned and operated new machines, factories, mines and railroads and they enjoyed a more comfortable life than the working class  Working Class became workers in the factories and mines and lived in uncomfortable environments

“Upstairs”/“Downstairs” Life

THE INDUSTRIAL MIDDLE CLASS  Came from a variety of backgrounds (merchants, inventors, rags to riches)  Lived in well furnished and spacious homes

 Wore fancy clothes, worked hard to get ahead and had little sympathy for the poor  Women focused on raising the children

INDUSTRIAL WORKING CLASS  Lived in foul smelling slums  They were packed in tiny rooms in tenements (multistory buildings divided into apartments)  There was no running water, sewage or sanitation system so waste and garbage rotted in the street

 Sewage was dumped into the river so there was a horrible smell and the water became contaminated (unclean) leading to the spread of diseases such as cholera

WORKERS STAGE PROTESTS  Workers organized groups called labor unions, although they were illegal many met in secret  They wished to initiate reforms (changes) such as increase in pay however they had no political power and often times their frustration turned into violence

 groups of textile workers known as Luddites smashed the machines that were taking over their jobs and they burned factories

WORKERS AND RELIGION  Methodism –Workers found comfort with this religion –Stressed the need for a personal sense of faith and encouraged followers to improve themselves by adopting sober and moral ways

–Had songs and hymns that promised forgiveness and a better life to come –Helped to channel workers anger away from revolution and towards reform

URBAN LIVING CONDITIONS

SOCIALISM  General socialist argument –Capitalism made a few people very rich but kept most people poor and miserable –Capitalism was unjust system  Early socialist schemes –“Utopian” communities (La Reunion) –Nationalization of industry –Violent revolutions Replace unbridled competition with cooperation Abolition of private property  Flaws –Misunderstood human nature –Wanted to “turn back clock” to days before industrial revolution Charles Fourier Robert Owen

SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM (MARXISM)  Published Communist Manifesto in 1848  Corrected flaws in early socialism and proved it was workable and inevitable Karl Marx Frederick Engels

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARXISM I  Human history characterized by one class exploiting another –Class—a social group bound together by common economic activity and interests  Ancient World –Slaveowners exploit slaves  Feudal Age –Nobles exploit commoners  Capitalist (modern) Age –Bourgeoisie exploits proletariat

Young Coal Miners

Child Labor in the Mines Child “hurriers”

Factory Wages in Lancashire, 1830 Age of WorkerMale WagesFemale Wages under 112s 3d.2s. 4d s. 1d.4s. 3d s. 2d.7s. 3d s. 2d.8s. 5d s. 4d.8s. 7d s. 8d.8s. 9d s. 7d.9s. 8d s. 3d.9s. 3d s. 7d.8s. 10d s. 4d.8s. 4d s. 6d.6s. 4d.

Thomas Malthus × Population growth will outpace the food supply. × War, disease, or famine could control population. × The poor should have less children. × Food supply will then keep up with population.

David Ricardo × “Iron Law of Wages.” × When wages are high, workers have more children. × More children create a large labor surplus that depresses wages.

The Utilitarians: Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill × The goal of society is the greatest good for the greatest number. × There is a role to play for government intervention to provide some social safety net.