Chapter 22 Part 4
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Chapter 22 Part 4 The Industrial Revolution
Changes in working conditions
Factory work meant more discipline and less personal freedom
Work became impersonal The factory environment was so different than what cottagers were used to that they were reluctant to work in factories even for better wages
Working Conditions
Early factories resembled English poorhouses where destitute people went to live on welfare
Some poorhouses really were industrial prisons
Child Labor Increased
More agricultural workers became weavers and were paid fairly well so were unwilling to move to factories
Factory owners turned to child labor
Abandoned children became a main source of labor from local parishes and orphanages
Child Labor
Factory owners treated children like slaves
Hours were long; conditions were appalling
Factories, mines, chimney sweeps, market girls, shoemakers, etc.
BUT this was much the same as child labor in cottage industries
Child Labor
Did child labor in factories only APPEAR to be worse? As the Industrial Revolution continued, child labor declined BUT at first, families worked in factories in units Parents were unwilling to be separated from their children in factories and mines Working together made the work more tolerable
In Cotton Mills
Children worked for mothers or fathers Collected waste and pieced together broken thread In mines children sorted coal and picked up stray bits that fell from the corvees (carts) pushed by their mothers while fathers mined the seams Parents DID protest inhumane treatment
See Listening to the Past 752-753
Parliament tried to limit Child Labor
The Saddler Commission: investigated working conditions and helped to initiate legislation to improve conditions in factories
The Factory Act 1833
Limited the workday for children 9-13 to 8 hours a day
Limited ages 14-18 to 12 hours a day
Prohibited hiring children under age 9
Were to attend elementary schools that factory owners were required to establish
Employment of Children declined rapidly
BUT the Factory Act of 1833 helped to destroy the family as a working unit
The Mines Act of 1842
Prohibited boys and girls under age 10 from working underground
Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society
Urbanization: was the most important sociological effect
Was the largest population transfer in human history
Birth of factory towns: cities grew into large industrial centers…like Manchester
Before the Industrial Revolution
Most people lived in the South of England
BUT coal and iron were located in the Midlands and in the North
In 1785 only 3 cities had more than 50,000 people in England and Scotland
By 1820, 31 cities with 50,000 or more
The role of the city had changed
From governmental and cultural centers
To industrial centers
Living conditions SEEMED worse (due to overcrowding) in the cities but did not differ much from those living on farms
Reformers tried to improve life in cities
The big issues of the 19th century: working class injustices gender exploitation standard-of-living issues
The family structure and gender roles within the family changed
Families were no longer a unit of production and consumption
Families were less closely bound together
Productive work was taken out of the home
New roles
As wages rose for skilled adult males women and children were separated from the workplace
Gender-determined roles at home and a new “domestic” life slowly emerged
Married women stayed at home Husband was the wage earner
Women
Were expected to create a nurturing environment for family members who returned from work
Married women DID work outside the home IF family required it: illness, death of a spouse
Single women and widows had much work available BUT few skills required and very low wages
No way to protect themselves from exploitation
The Irish
Increased numbers to Great Britain Became urban workers Many Irish were forced out of Ireland…poor economic conditions, population growth and the Potato Famine
The Irish
Ireland had not industrialized
The Industrial Revolution may have limited human catastrophe elsewhere…factory work provided better wages…people could buy food from elsewhere
Better transport could have brought food in
The Irish
Overpopulation and rural poverty in Ireland Most were Irish Catholic peasants and lived in abject poverty Rented land from a tiny minority of Anglicans Most landowners were absentee Had not improved agriculture (new crops, methods of the Agricultural Revolution NOT introduced)
The Potato Famine
1845 & 46…Crop failure Again in 1848 & 1851
Also…fever epidemics!
Higher food prices, tremendous suffering, social unrest
Irish Potato Famine
1.5 million died or went unborn 1840-1855: 2 million left Ireland
Most went to U.S. or Britain
By 1911…population in Ireland 4.4 million 1845 population in Ireland was 8 million British government response was abysmal
It might have happened
Anywhere that there was rapid population growth without industrialization
Central Russia, western Germany, Southern Italy were vulnerable
All relied on the potato, were overpopulated and poor
The Dismal Science(Economics)
Thomas Malthus Essay on the Principle of Population (1798): argued that the population would always grow faster than the food supply
The only way to ward off “positive checks” on population growth: war, famine, disease…to marry later in life.
The Dismal Science
David Ricardo (1722-1823) The Iron Law of Wages: due to population growth, wages would always sink to subsistence level
Wages would be just high enough to keep workers from starving
John Maynard Keynes
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s
“We are all dead in the long run….”
Friedrich List
German journalist and thinker: Promoted economic nationalism (became increasingly popular in 1840’s)
Government should protect industry with tariffs Government should subsidize RR’s, etc.
Wrote: National System of Political Economy (1841)
What would Adam Smith say?
Capitalists viewed the Industrial Revolution as a Positive Force in the long run
In the end it did fulfill human wants and needs Industry provided the power to replace human labor Wealth for all increased Huge amounts of food, clothing, energy became available to all Luxuries became commonplace Life expectance increased More leisure time available Prevented human catastrophe (like in Ireland)
Socialists and Communists
Believed the Industrial Revolution to be the continued exploitation of the have-nots (proletariat) by the haves (Bourgeoisie)
Workers had to wait until the second ½ of the 19th century to share in the wealth Until then: low wages, poor conditions, abuse
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