2. Lives of Factory Workers
Many rules including breaks, being late, falling asleep, etc. Penalties included fines, beatings, or loss of job
Long hours, often hours per day, six days per week
Machines never slowed so workers had to adjust and employers and governments offered no insurance, disability, or workers compensation
No regulations at all until the Factory Act of 1833 ended the very worst abuses but poor conditions continued

4. Development of the Middle Class
Economic power shifted away from agriculture towards manufacturing
Educated middle class of doctors, lawyers, factory managers, accountants, etc. grew in wealth and power
Membership in this new class depended on economic standing rather than birth
Workers saw the middle class as a stepladder- their children could climb a rung higher

6. The Factory System SECTION 2 Working Class Middle Class
worked in factories for low wages
lived in tenements
Working Class
most children did not attend school
lifestyles and living conditions similar to lower middle class
industrializing England
were bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc.
Middle Class
gained social influence and political power
well-educated
rising social status

7. Women and Children in the Factory
Women in cities could work as domestics (household servants) or in factories
With low wages, many children became workers to help families
Factory owners knew they could pay women and children less than men for the same job

9. Division of Labor/Interchangeable Parts
Division of labor- manufacturing divided into steps, and each worker and machine completed one step, increasing production (profit) for owners
Early machines were made by hand, each was different, requiring handmade replacement parts
Factories started using machines that made all parts exactly alike (interchangeable parts)
Now you could take apart 10 machines, mix up the parts, and rebuild 10 working machines

10. Assembly Line Mass Production
Early factories made each part in a different area of the factory, then brought the parts together for assembly
Henry Ford developed the assembly line to carry a car (Model T Ford) down a conveyor belt, each worker adding their part
Allowed factories to mass produce identical items, increasing production

11. Birth of Corporations
As industry grew, owners needed large amounts of money (capital) to expand
Owners formed public businesses (corporations) selling shares of stock, allowed individuals to own a part of the corporation and raised large amounts of cash
1901 J.P. Morgan began U.S. Steel, first billion-dollar company

12. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
Law of Supply and Demand- prices and profits depend on amount of available goods and demand for those goods
Law of Competition- as owners compete with each other to sell products, they must reduce prices and inefficient owners went out of business

13. Laissez-faire Economics
Adam Smith and others argued government should not meddle in business with too many laws, taxes or regulations but instead allow business to operate freely
Laissez-faire is French for “hands off” or “let it be”
This led to most wage, price, and quality regulations, which had existed since medieval craft guilds, to be completely dropped
Free Enterprise- owners driven to do business for gain, and economic laws would control them

14. Reformers
Charles Dickens and other humanitarians urged government to take action to protect workers
The Factory Act of 1833 ended the worst abuses
No kids under 9, kids 9-13 could only work 8 hrs. six days per week
1847- women and children only work 10 hrs per day

16. Workers Organize
Workers began to unite (collective action) into unions to work for better conditions
Unions used strikes and picket lines to force owners to listen to their demands
Owners went to great lengths to stop unions and strikes

18. Socialism (Marxism)
Socialists began to urge for workers to control the means of production- factories, capital, and raw materials to share wealth more equally
In 1848, Marx and Engels publish the Communist Manifesto, outlining basic socialism and the idea of class struggle- haves vs. have-nots