Social impact of the industrial revolution

Working hours were long, with shifts lasting from 12 to 16 hours, six or seven days a week.

How long were the working hours in the early factories of the Industrial Revolution?

These children often started working at age seven or eight, a few as young as five.

How old were children when they started to work in factories and mines?

working conditions in the mines were even worse than in the factories. They worked in darkness, and the coal dust destroyed their lungs. There were always the dangers of explosions, flooding, and collapsing tunnels.

List some negative physical dangers of working in mines.

Employers often preferred to hire women workers because they thought women could adapt more easily to machines and were easier to manage. In addition, employers generally paid women half what they paid men.

List three reasons why factory owners hired women more than men?

British lawmakers formed teams of inspectors to ensure that factories and mines obeyed the laws in the 1830s and 1840s. More laws were then passed to be shorten the workday for women and require that child workers be educated.

What did British lawmakers do to ensure that factories and mines obeyed the "factory act" laws in the 1830s and 1840s?

Methodists helped channel workers' anger away from revolution and toward reform.

What effect did Methodists have on workers?

Those who benefited most from the Industrial Revolution were the entrepreneurs who set it in motion.

Who benefited the most from the Industrial Revolution?

John Wesley had founded the Methodist movement in the mid-1700s. Wesley stressed the need for a personal sense of faith. He encouraged his followers to improve themselves by adopting sober, moral ways.

Who was John Wesley, what did he stress and what did he encourage?

They wished to initiate worker reforms such as increases in pay, but had no political power to effect change.

Why couldn't labor unions effect reform of the workers' situation?

Although labor unions, or workers' organizations, were illegal at this time, secret unions did exist among frustrated British workers.

Why were labor unions "secret" during the early years of the Industrial Revolution?

Tenement

rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards

Urbanization

the movement of people into cities

Cholera

when human waste gets too close to drinking water

These laws were passed to reduce a child's workday to twelve hours and also to remove children under the age of eight or nine from the cotton mills.

What did the "factory acts" attempt to do?

The growth of industry and rapid population growth dramatically changed the location and distribution of two resources—labor and people.

What did the growth of industry and rapid population growth dramatically change?

Women of the middle class did not leave the home to work but instead focused their energy on raising their children. This contrasted with the wealthy, who had maidservants to look after their children, and the working class, whose children were a part of the workforce.

Contrast how the women of the middle class and the women of the wealthy looked after their children.

Middle-class families lived in well- furnished, spacious homes on paved streets and had a ready supply of water. They wore fancy clothing and ate well. The new middle class took pride in their hard work and their determination to "get ahead". Only a few had sympathy for the poor. Women of the middle class did not leave the home to work but instead focused their energy on raising their children. This contrasted with the wealthy, who had maidservants to look after their children, and the working class, whose children were part of the workforce.

Describe how middle class families lived during the Industrial Revolution.

The British market town of Manchester numbered 17,000 people in the 1750s. Within a few years, it exploded into a center of the textile industry. Its population soared to 40,000 by 1780 and 70,000 by 1801. Visitors described the "cloud of coal vapor" that polluted the air, the pounding noise of steam engines, and the filthy stench of its river. This growth of industry and rapid population growth dramatically changed the location and distribution of two resources, labor and people.

Describe the negative effects of industrialization on the market town of Manchester during the 1700's.

Labor unions won the right to bargain with employers for better wages, hours, and working conditions.

Eventually, what rights did labor unions win?

In time, reforms would curb many of the worst abuses of the early industrial age in Europe and the Americas. As standards of living increased, people at all levels of society would benefit from industrialization. Until then, working people would suffer with dangerous working conditions, unsafe, unsanitary, overcrowded housing and unrelenting

In time, what can be accurately said about all levels in society as a result of industrialization?

Many working-class people found comfort in a religious movement called Methodism. This movement was influenced by the Industrial Revolution as people moved to cities and lost connections with their old churches.

In what religion did working-class people find comfort?

The Industrial Revolution brought great riches to most of the entrepreneurs who helped set it in motion. For the millions of workers who crowded into the new factories, however, the industrial age brought poverty and harsh living conditions.

What is the difference between the entrepreneurs and the millions of workers during the early years of the Industrial Revolution?

The heart of the new industrial city was the factory. There, the technology of the machine age and the rapid pace of industrialization imposed a harsh new way of life on workers.

What was at the heart of the new industrial city?

The children of the working class were a part of the workforce.

What were the children of the working class doing?

While the wealthy and the middle class lived in pleasant neighborhoods, vast numbers of poor struggled to survive in foul-smelling slums. They packed into tiny rooms in tenements, or multi story buildings divided into apartments. These tenements had no running water, only community pumps. There was no sewage or sanitation system, so wastes and garbage rotted in the streets. Sewage was also dumped into rivers, which created an overwhelming stench and contaminated drinking water. This led to the spread of disease, such as cholera.

Write a few sentences describing how the poor lived during the early years of the Industrial Revolution.

Groups of textile workers known as the Luddites (LUD yts) resisted the labor-saving machines that were costing them their jobs. Some of them smashed textile machines with sledgehammers and burned factories. They usually wore masks and operated at night. There was widespread support for these Luddite groups among the working class.

Write a few sentences explaining how and why some workers resorted to violence. The first instances of industrial riots occurred in England from 1811 to 1813.

The Industrial Revolution created a new middle class along with the working class. Those in the middle class owned and operated the new factories, mines, and railroads, among other industries. Their lifestyle was much more comfortable than that of the industrial working class.

Write a few sentences or a short paragraph comparing the new middle class of the Industrial Revolution with that of the working class.

As demand for mass-produced goods grew, new factories opened, which in turn created more jobs. Wages rose so that workers had enough left after paying rent and buying food to buy a newspaper or visit a music hall. As the cost of railroad travel fell, people could visit family in other towns. Horizons widened and opportunities increased.

Write two or three sentences describing the positive effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Labor Union

a group that won the right to bargain with employers for better wages, hours, and working conditions. At first they were illegal.