preview

Gke1 Task 4a

Good Essays

The First Industrial Revolution occurred from 1780-1850 and changed the way people lived and worked worldwide. New technologies and manufacturing processes were changing lives across the globe. These synergistic advances led to more developments and social consequences began to arise. The way people worked was changing as well as the way they would live.
Urbanization was one significant social consequence that was caused by the First Industrial Revolution. Urbanization is the growth of a city, and broadly the transition from the majority of the population living in rural circumstances and working agriculture, to living in urban circumstances, and working in industrial jobs. Before the Industrial Revolution began, people were mostly …show more content…

Not only was learning how to operate new machines frustrating, it was also a very dangerous job. Safety standards had not yet been introduced and the people were working jobs in which losing their lives or being physically harmed was very likely and not uncommon. Workers were on the job for long hours every day without receiving frequent breaks. They also faced the risk of deadly fires and dealt with working in buildings that did not provide adequate ventilation or heating during the cold part of the year. For example, workers who were responsible for performing the process of purifying iron were often working in temperatures that would reach up to 130 degrees. It was also hard for the workers to protest or strike in hopes of receiving better working conditions or fairer working hours because of the unemployment rate being fairly high. Employers could easily replace them with someone else and also because working rights had not been established at this point, strikes were often dealt with severely.
Specialization, or doing work that is often focused on a single aspect of the production process, also became very common during this time. Workers who began jobs on unfamiliar machinery would often experience frustration and fear. Once they learned the job they developed mastery over the machines. For example, young women often

Get Access