The Middle and Working Class

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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Factory Work, continued • Days were typically 10-14 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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