Industrial Revolution

The Epoch of Industrial Revolution

The Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution

Social Impact  Industrialization brought

about profound changes in the societies of Europe, the USA and the rest of the world

Urbanization  New factories of industry attracted huge numbers of people to cities

 Britain: - 1850: 60% of the population lived in rural areas

- 1900: 75% lived in cities

Population Growth  Little improvement in living conditions  Population growth meant:

- Oversupply of workers - Low wages - Rising food prices - Growing numbers of people in poverty • So the IR actually lowered living conditions at first

Unemployed Rail Workers - London

Oversupply of Labor

- 1816: half of the workforce in textiles were under the age of 18 - 1840, 10% of the British population were paupers

- Average: 34% of the population were paupers

Child Labor Laws  Governments were often forced to intervene, as a result of public pressure (Lewis Hine in the USA, Charles Dickens in England) leading to … - Restriction of child labor and then adult working hours

Photograph of young worker in an Ohio factory, by Lewis Hine

 Born in Wisconsin 1874  Photographer who captured children working in appalling conditions in American factories  As a result of his photographs, Congress eventually forced to pass child protection laws for children under 14

Charles Dickens  Grew up in London  Worked in a shoe polish factory aged 12; then as a clerk for a lawyer  Became a great novelist  Wrote stories for radical newspapers about child exploitation, slavery, public health  Spoke out against exploitation in the USA while visiting in 1842  His efforts put considerable pressure on British Government to improve standards of health and employment for children

Rise in the standard of living Real Income (in 1970 US$) 900 800 700

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1700

1760

1800

1830

1860

Infrastructure  Infrastructure rarely kept up with rapid growth  Some well-intentioned improvements actually made things worse

- E.g. the ‘Great Stink’ of 1847: parliament closed for a week - Introduction of flush toilets caused overflow into the wells - 1848/96,000 people died from cholera

Early flush toilet