preview

Capitalism During The Industrial Revolution

Decent Essays

The Industrial Revolution brought so many advances in the beginning of the 18th century and spread throughout the world. Even though we’ve become modernized by the cause of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve encountered so many hardships, creating instability in society around the world. This advancement at the time has created the rise of capitalism, affected labor among the people and lead to horrible living conditions in the early days of the Industrial Revolution.

As the Industrial Revolution begins, the idea of capitalism began to come up. It is economic and political system in which private owners control the country’s trade and industry for personal profit. The government intervenes the least as possible so that the best companies survive …show more content…

As the machines took dominance of production, the people who were skilled in producing certain items by hand before the machine have become useless. Them and the other people who worked in factories or any sort of labor made up 80% of society. Many who worked in textile factories worked for long hours a day, received low wages and encountered dangerous working conditions. Men at the time were the main ones who worked but women worked as well to help pay all the needs. Many preferred women instead of men because they can take advantage of them. “They would pay them less than the men even with the same amount of work.” (burdosclassroom,org) The head of the factory would see that they can benefit more from a woman than a man. Women weren’t the only ones who were taken advantage of, “In the early 1860s, an estimated one-fifth of the workers in Britain’s textile industry were younger than 15.” (History.com “Industrial Revolution”) The children working in the factories were used to complete task the many grown people couldn’t do because they were too big. Many of these task that the adults couldn't do were highly hazardous and could end up dead if not careful. They worked long hours as well as their parents to help provide money to get food. There weren’t any laws that helped these children who …show more content…

“In 1695, the population of Britain was estimated to be 5.5 million. By 1801, the year of the first census, it was 9.3 million and by 1841, 15.9 million. This represents a 60% growth rate in just 40 years.” (C N Trueman "Life In Industrial Towns"). This illustrates that the advancement of machines during Britain's Industrial Revolution has attracted many people to come to the country. With so many people arriving, there was a high demand on housing for the people to live. Manufacturing cities, such as Liverpool and Manchester, faced encountered this problem never seen before. The solution created was to build as many houses using the cheapest materials and placed them back-to-back. This solution brought more issues along the road. Many of these houses hold a family of about 9 people and each house did not have their own their own bathrooms or fresh running water. Every block of 40 houses had only 6 bathrooms for all to share. “Sanitation and hygiene barely existed and throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the great fear was a cholera, typhus or typhoid epidemic.” (C N Trueman "Life In Industrial Towns"). Cholera was the main disease that caused the death of 15,000 people in London during an outbreak from 1848-49. This disease spread as a result of sewage coming into contact with the drink water. There were many issues with the living conditions that the

Get Access