Industrial Revolution Working Class

The middle class saw benefits from the new era and seized the opportunity. The middle class allowed the working class to lift them into the upper class by creating many jobs in their factories and businesses. The middle class

Ideas of Classical Liberalism during the Industrial Revolution impacted the class system of the 19th century but transformed the social structure in Europe, and helped developed the middle class during the time. Before the Industrialization of Europe, the highest class during that time was the aristocrats, and wealthy landowners, followed by the small and middle class comprising of workers, merchants, and peasant farmers. This did not last long when the increase of industrialization formed the Industrial Revolution, the middle class became more wealthy for the factory and mine owners, bankers and merchants. The middle class became the most wealthiest and powerful members in society, which became known as the nouveau riche.

The Industrial revolution started in Britain around 1750 and by 1850 it will make Great Britain the wealthiest country in the world. The revolution also spread to other European countries and the New World. Both Germany and United States will surpass Britain in the next fifty years. What was the effect of The Industrial Revolution on the working class?

In the wood carvings created in 1846, two separate images depict a model welfare institution for orphaned girls and boys in Germany during the early years of industrialization. Both images portray a glorified view of the Bourgeoisie, who were owners of the means of production, and the Proletariat, members of the working class. These two social classes propelled the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The two images titled Orphaned Girls and Boys in a Welfare Institution, present an idealized situation of the Industrial Revolution and argue that the Bourgeoisie depended on the labor of the Proletariat for economic prosperity and survival.

When the French Third Estate stormed the Bastille in 1789, they envisioned a country in which they were no longer trodden upon by the First and Second Estates. They envisioned a nation where they had a major voice in politics and had a prominent role in the economy. By successfully overthrowing the French government and installing their own, they succeeded; albeit for only a short time. Little did they know that within a few decades, the same social hierarchy would be reinstalled during the Industrial Revolution, except the lower classes would be fighting for sanitation instead of bread. Over the course of the nineteenth century, various arguments emerged of how to improve the lives of European workers during the Industrial Revolution. Arguments

The majority of skilled workers before the revolution lived in the countryside and had a nice quaint life. An extract from The Making of the Working class notes an observer describing the living conditions before the industrial revolution as “their dwelling and small gardens clean and neat, —all the family well clad, —the men with each a watch in their pocket, and the women dressed in their own fancy, —the Church crowded to excess every Sunday, —every house well furnished with a clock in elegant mahogany or fancy case. . . . Their little cottages seemed happy and contented” (Thompson,1966,p.269). This showed that before the industrial revolution the skilled workers such as the weavers lived a happy content life, affording such luxuries “..each a watch in their pocket..”

Noise, smells, and injuries replaced people’s normal lives during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a transition of new manufacturing from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Many inventions were created during this time to improve the average person’s everyday life. Unfortunately, the people that had to work through the revolution to improve others’ lives were put through perilous situations. These people that worked in the factories with all of the new inventions included men, women, and even children. The Industrial Revolution may have been worth while, however there were negative and positive ramifications to achieve the success.

Upper class wealth was inherited and servants were plentiful. Upper and middle class women stayed at home while working class women had to go to work and families spent less time together. Children were part of the working class and expected to work long, dangerous hours in factories, and other sectors, for far less remuneration than adults (Dahrendorf, 1959). The working and middle class benefitted most with a generally better standard of living than existed prior to the industrial revolution

Workers had a six to seven day workweek of ten to fourteen hours each day. During this time of revolution industrialists broke up work in factories into series on simple tasks to increase efficiency and production, a downfall of this was that industrial work became less skilled, repetitive and boring. An example of this would be machinery jobs in a factory, job satisfaction for workers become very low considering the fact that they would have to repeat the same task for hours on end. Low wages were very low so low that workers could not afford requirements for food, shelter and clothing. Everyone in a worker's family would have to work to make ends meet even when women and children were paid low wages.

The Industrial Revolution brought about a higher volume and variety of factory-produced goods and elevated the standard of living for many people, mostly for the middle and upper classes. The life for the poor and working classes was unrelenting and continued to be filled with obstacles. Income

Name Instructor Course Date Industrial Revolution The industrial revolution was a period of rapid growth of industries and agricultural production between the late 18th- Century and early 19th- Century.

Beginning in Great Britain, the Industrial Revolution was the increase of production brought about by the use of machines, factories, and new energy sources. This soon spread to the rest of the world, and developed a new economy and new social classes. These classes included the middle class, the class who came to own the means of production during this time period; the working class, who worked in the factories; and the upper class, who generally inherited their families wealth.

People working during this time period had it rough. They had to work around 16 hours every day and they only had a 40 minute lunch around noon. This is way too long for anyone to work for with only one break. Parents could barely see their children during the day they were strangers to each other. “A stranger am I to my child; and he one to me.” (Document 2). The working mother couldn’t even begin to talk to her child because she was always working. She was up before dawn, and back around dark. She would be too tired to talk to him after that long day of work so she would have to go right to bed when she got home. Just the hours alone were horrible, that’s not even considering the working conditions they had to be in during that time. People would be running around all day on their feet trying to run all these machines. Standing up all day was a killer, and having to run machines and make them stop with your feet caused tons of injuries. The factories they worked in, also were not well lit with light so a lot of people couldn’t tell what they

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the workers in Western society mainly worked with agriculture. The economy depended on agriculture but this began to change at the start of the Industrial Revolution which dates back to 1712 with the invention of the steam engine. This invention led to a plethora of breakthroughs for industries such as the coal and iron industries. As a result of the enclosure movement, the poor who did not have a home were hired to work in the fields or in the cotton industry. The high wages and large food supply allowed families to spend money on manufactured goods as opposed to just buying bread. As a result of workers transitioning from an agriculturally-based economy to an industry-based economy, they moved into the city. Many workers who were agricultural laborers became loom weavers and worked in cotton factories because they were among the highest-paid laborers during the eighteenth century. In the middle of the nineteenth century, those factory workers became architects, chemists, accountants, and surveyors. Between the French Revolution and the First World War, the changing of jobs, treatment, and location of workers have both beneficial and negative effects on Western society because of: the improved living standards, poor working conditions and long hours which have a negative impact on the workers’ health, increase in labor unions and job availability, and the expectations of women and children contributing to family income.

The Industrial Revolution was an innovative period for entrepreneurs and inventors, in which many monumental technologies were introduced. However, many of those of the factory workers suffered from the social and economic conditions that resulted from the revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some social conditions were that working women increasingly took up the workforce in textile factories as a way to earn money, but they also faced abuse from men and the harsh working conditions. Furthermore, manufacturers wanted to increase their profits by ensuring that the maximum amount of work could be done in a day, thus they increased the working shifts. The want to increase profits was an economic condition that factory workers had to