The Middle and Working Class Mr. White’s World History

Objectives  After we study this section, we should be able to:  Describe how the Industrial Revolution created a large middle-class  Describe how the Industrial Revolution affected the working class  Describe how the working class worked to form labor unions

The Middle Class  The classes of a society are typically divided into three – upper, middle, and lower (called the working class in the Industrial Revolution)  The middle class grows during the Industrial Revolution from a very small group of people to a much larger part of the population

The Emergence of the Middle Class  The middle class grew because it was made up of bankers, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals who began to invest in business  Others from the lower class were able to work their way up, and the middle class increased in size

Middle-class Values  The middle class at the time valued education very highly, and saw it as a path to success for them and their children  Men began to emerge as the sole monetary providers for households  Women were kept in the home, and dealt with domestic issues – maintaining the home, writing letters, taking care of children  Children in middle-class homes typically attended school much longer than working class

The Working Class  The working class led a very different life from what the middle class did  The working class was made up mostly of factory and industrial workers who used to be farmers  Poor working and living conditions made life very difficult for the working class

Factory Work  Working conditions in the very first factories weren’t too bad, but as competition increased, conditions got worse  Monotony in a type of work (assembly- line) or fatigue because of long hours could cause breaks in concentration or falling asleep, resulting in accidents

Factory Work, continued  Days were typically hours long, factories were not ventilated well, people often got sick and had little medical care  Pay was very low for workers, and women made about half what men did

Working-class Families  Mostly everyone in working-class families worked  Children – didn’t attend school very long, poor conditions stunted growth and cause health problems  Women had new opportunities that they didn’t have before (before only marriage), but they still had poor conditions and difficult jobs  Factory and mill owners typically owned the housing in which factory workers lived, so they could set the rent  Poor sanitation in cities made health problems worse

Workers Unite!  Workers began to organize to improve working conditions, hours, and pay in their jobs  Governments had made some laws to protect workers, but they didn’t go far enough for many  Workers joined together into trade groups, and then eventually labor unions, to stand together to bargain with ownership

Instruments of Resistance  Workers organized strikes, sit-down strikes, etc., to protest management practices  Factory owners argued that raising wages or decreasing hours would raise the price of their goods and hurt business  Union workers were blacklisted and couldn’t get jobs anywhere  British government even outlawed unions  By 1820, many unions had success in getting collective bargaining rights