Chapter 22 Part 4

1. Chapter 22Part 4 The Industrial Revolution

2. 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

3. Working Conditions • Early factories resembled English poorhouses where destitute people went to live on welfare • Some poorhouses really were industrial prisons

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. See Listening to the Past752-753

9. Parliament tried to limit Child Labor The Saddler Commission: investigated working conditions and helped to initiate legislation to improve conditions in factories

10. 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

11. Employment of Children declined rapidly BUT the Factory Act of 1833 helped to destroy the family as a working unit

12. The Mines Act of 1842 Prohibited boys and girls under age 10 from working underground

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Reformers tried to improve life in cities The big issues of the 19th century: working class injustices gender exploitation standard-of-living issues

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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)

23. The Potato Famine 1845 & 46…Crop failure Again in 1848 & 1851 Also…fever epidemics! Higher food prices, tremendous suffering, social unrest

24. 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

25. 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

26. The Dismal Science(Economics) Thomas MalthusEssay 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.

27. 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

28. John Maynard Keynes During the Great Depression of the 1930’s “We are all dead in the long run….”

29. 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?

30. 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)

31. 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