preview

Negative Ramifications Of The Industrial Revolution

Decent Essays

Positive and Negative Ramifications of the Industrial Revolution Long hours, low pay, new inventions, and business booms all became a commonplace in the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution took place between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It began in Great Britain and over time eventually spread throughout the rest of Europe. During this time period a lot of changes in the economy occurred. These changes affected everything from manufacturing to how an average person lived their everyday lives. Although the Industrial Revolution had many negative ramifications, the great successes made it all worthwhile . The Industrial Revolution was a time for progress and growth but with that came negative consequences. One of …show more content…

Because they were small, in factories they would be told to do jobs where they had to go in between machines and into small spaces. Some of the tasks they were asked or forced to do, like using high powered machinery and working in mines, would result in injury or death. To make things worse they were treated very badly by employers and barely paid if at all (“Child Labor”). For the most part of the Revolution there were no child labor laws to prevent this terrible treatment. Living conditions were another negative aspect of the Industrial Revolution. Most people of this era lived in slums or tenements because the boom of businesses caused for more and more people to move into cities. Slums and tenements were large building but since there were so many people five to ten people lived in one room and these buildings were not ideal places for them to live. People lived so close to one another that diseases and sickness spread quickly (“Working and Living”). Society was also unsanitary because of the lack of sewage systems, proper medicine and medical care, poor diet, and pollution. Work conditions were another problem during the Industrial Revolution. Like the children, adults also would work fourteen …show more content…

New and different inventions were a positive ramification that came out of the Revolution. New inventions were a way of building on society and without almost all of these inventions technology and production would not be advanced later on in time. Some of the inventions to come out of this were the Steam Engine, Steam Boat, the telephone, Spinning Jenny, Cotton Gin, and Power Loom. All of these inventions helped to create industrialization and advancement in technology (“Important Inventions”). Another significant result of this time era was new laws and regulations. Early in the Revolution in factories and workplaces there were no laws or regulations that prohibited things like the bad treatment of employees, under age working children, dangerous machinery, and many more. The Factory Act for example limited nine sixteen year olds an eight hour a day work shift, thirteen to eighteen year olds a twelve hour work shift a day, and children who are under the age of thirteen have to have at least two hours of education paid for by their employers. Other acts that were put in place are the Health and Moral of Apprentices Act, Peel’s Factory Act, and the Mines Act (“The Industrial”) . Mass production and the assembly line were a great outcome of the Industrial Revolution. Before mass production most products were handmade

Get Access