SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

pRObLEmS MANY WORKERS IN POVERTY UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS POOR QUALITY PRODUCTS MONOPOLIES CONTROL BUSINESSES OVERCROWDED CITIES POLLUTION!

ADAM SMITH FATHER OF CAPITALISM

CAPITALISM Smith’s Theory Individuals acting naturally in their own self-interest would bring about the greatest good for society as a whole (work for own profit will be good for nation too) Believed government should not regulate businesses (laissez faire)

But… greed kicked in A few became very rich at expense of their workers and All of us were eating meat with rat poison flavoring!

Some people advocated new types of economic systems.

SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM Karl Marx= a German in exile in Britain He believed that the history of the world was a history of class struggle between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ He predicted that during the Capitalist stage of society the workers would be so miserable that they would eventually rise up and overthrow their employers and rulers.

KARL MARX

SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM The Workers would then set up a new society based on the sharing of goods All people would work at the job they enjoy and are best at Everyone would be happy and fulfilled thus no government would be necessary “Utopia” or a perfect society

PERFECT THEORIES NEVER WORK! Neither Capitalism nor Communism worked as their authors had envisioned The first country to have a communist revolution was Russia==but the leaders of the revolution kept all the power and control for themselves and the people never had the perfect society promised.

Lenin Workers unite!

CAPITALISM REVISED Most of the Industrialized countries solved the problems of Capitalism without having an all-out revolution! UNIONS WERE DEVELOPED TO HELP THE WORKERS PRESSURE THEIR BOSSES FOR BETTER PAY AND CONDITIONS.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS Eventually the governments in most industrialized countries had to begin passing laws to protect the health and safety of their citizens. 1) child labor laws 2) minimum wages/limits on hours 3) food handling and packing laws Etc. etc. etc….. THUS, no one has a pure Capitalistic system today (not even the USA)

NEED FOR RESOURCES The next problem: How to get all of the natural resources necessary to sustain an industrialized economy and to get them as cheaply as possible……….

IMPERIALISM Let’s Just take them from those countries/continents who are not industrialized! --- Here we go again-------