L5: Revolutionary Changes in Social Life: Changes in the Meaning of Work Cont & The Changing Definition of the Family Agenda Objective: To understand… 1.What working conditions were like in the factory system. 2.How and why working conditions became a means of controlling workers both physically, psychologically, and morally. 3.How the meaning of work changed for both workers and employers under the factory system. 4.How the factory system led to the separation of work and home. 5.Child labor and the emergence of childhood. 6.The effect of the ideology of separate spheres on middle and working class women. Schedule: 1.Discussion: Work in the Factory System 2.Discussion Family life Homework: 1.Please see unit schedule. No modifications to homework assignments at this time. REMINDER: First process check in due Friday!

Work in the Factory System Discussion

Mill Clock Many mills have a clock turned by the mill; close to another clock regulated by a pendulum, and the motion of the mill is so regular, that these two clocks will never vary more than two or three minutes. Both are made with dials and hands exactly alike, but one has a title on the dial, mill time, and the other, clock time. - The Rees Cyclopedia ( )

The Mill Clock Victorian clock from Pyemore Mill, near Bridport, Dorset J.M. Richards, The Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings, 109 clock time mill time, as measured by waterwheel

The Factory As Machine Individual machines as coordinated parts of larger, continuously operating mechanism –Central power source (whether water or steam) driving all machines at coordinated rates (allude to other forms of organization made possible by small electric motors) –Inherent in factory itself and reinforced by every step of increased mechanization

What Happens to the Worker in A Factory Machine?

Work and Family Before the Industrial Revolution Before the Industrial Revolution, the family was not only a social unit but an economic unit. Work and home were one in the same as families worked side by side in the domestic system or on family farms. Men, women, and children all labored side-by-side and all work was done in the family home which was the center of production.

Work and Home Become Separate Spheres The biggest way the Industrial Revolution changed the family was by separating work from the home. With the introduction of the factory system, people now ventured out of the home to labor in a physically distinct work-space. Work and home became separate spheres! This is huge, why? This radically altered family relations!

The Emergence of the Middle and Working Class The separation of work from the home led to the creation of two distinct family types: –The Working Class –The Middle Class

The Working Class With work now distinct from the home, working class families had to send husband, wife, and child into the workforce to make a living. In working class families, all family members labored in the factory. Though home was no longer the center of production, the family remained an economic unit. What does this mean?

The Middle Class The separation of work from the home led to the redefinition of gender roles among middle class men and women. Ideology of Separate Spheres –Idea that men should work in the public sphere and women should stay at home in the domestic sphere. Men Work Women Home

Ideology of Separate Spheres Men’s Roles… Women’s Roles…

Ideology of Separate Spheres Men’s Roles –Leave the home and work in a work place –Earn an income –Be competitive and aggressive in the cut-throat world of business –Producers! Women’s Roles –Stay in the home and focus on caring for children and beautifying the domicile. –Work is not an option! –Focus energies on decorating, leisure, and music –Provide a “haven in a heartless world;” Make the home a moral and spiritual respite--counter the world of work. –Four key virtues: piety, purity, submissiveness, domesticity –Consumers!

The Working Class and the Ideology of Separate Spheres The working class could not financially afford to practice in full the ideology of separate spheres. Yet they still strove to attain the gendered ideal by redefining men, women, and children’s work such that men were defined as “breadwinners” while women and children were defined as “supplemental” wage earners-- even if this was not always the case. In addition, despite working, working class women were also expected to care for the home and children.

Women and Child Labor is Limited The emergence of the union movement however soon pushed both women and children out of the workforce. Increased competition for jobs among men, women, and children often resulted in women and children being hired over men. Why?

Women and Child Labor is Limited As men increasingly found themselves unemployed or underpaid, unions--which tended to be male dominated--began to push for the exclusion of women and children from the workplace. They argued publicly that these jobs were too dangerous and unsafe for “delicate” women and children who really belonged in the home (or in school). Moreover the men argued that they should be paid a family wage.

Convinced by these arguments, laws were passed banning child labor and limiting women’s work hours and the types of establishments in which women could be employed. The result was that married working class women now rarely worked! –Though the poorest continued to work mainly in textile centers, or before marriage as domestic servants. Women and Child Labor is Limited

The banning of child labor also drastically changed conceptions of children and childhood. Children, who once could command a price in the form of a wage, suddenly became “priceless.” Children became dissociated from productive labor and childhood was redefined as a time of education and play. Childhood was developed as a concept. The Creation of Childhood

Summing It Up? What do you think the effects of these social changes (work and family) had on the individual?