preview

Political Changes And Social Changes During The Industrial Revolution

Decent Essays

Introduction:
The Industrial Revolution(1750-1850) was a period of time when production was completely revolutionized, making it THE most revolutionary time in history. It revolutionized the way WE as humans communicate, the way WE as humans run our governments and even the way we live our lives.

Paragraph 1 Social Changes:
For Instance, a social change that took place is the gradual change of the effective ‘abolishment’ of the family system. Until the Industrial Revolution a majority of people generally lived with families and in an extended family unit, 10 families made up a Jia and 10 Jia's made up a bow. These large familial based communities basically enforced the law, if someone committed something considered to be a crime it would …show more content…

During the Industrial Revolution, ordinary people were finally to an extent given a voice with places in parliament being allocated/allowed for them. A major event leading up to this was the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 where a crowd of over 60,000 had been protesting in favor of reform of the political system, cavalry were sent into the crowd and killed 15 people and injured more than a 100, these people were proletariat and were part of the Chartist movement and led by Henry Hunt, they aimed to reform the parliamentary system and introduce laws which would allow greater suffrage and allow at least all men who were not convicted of crime to vote, this was obviously opposed vehemently by the ruling bourgeoisie, this was because for so long the ruling elite had been able to keep these people under their power. This was obviously changing and with more people wanting a say in their political environment the power of the bourgeoisie slowly but surely diminished. The Chartist movement also opposed unemployment and was in favor of increasing wages. In my opinion, the Chartist Movement appears to have been one of the only actual organized protest/opposition to the system at the time which was definitely positive to an extent as without some kind of opposition a powerful system becomes corrupt and worn out. These political changes to an extent defined a part of the Industrial Revolution with figures such as Thomas Malthus famously stating that “poor should die” as they were deemed useless, this was why the opposition was definitely necessary and

Get Access