10 CONSEQUENCES OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - HISTORY - 2025

The consequences of the Industrial Revolution remarkably encompassed almost every aspect of British society, including demographics, politics, social structures and institutions, and the economy. With the growth of factories, for example, people were drawn to metropolitan centers.

The number of cities with populations of more than 20,000 in England and Wales increased from 12 in 1800 to almost 200 by the close of the century. As a specific example of the effects of technological change on demographics, the growth of the coke foundry resulted in a shift of the population centers of England from the south and east to the north and west.

Technological change also made the growth of capitalism possible. Factory owners and others who controlled the means of production quickly became very wealthy. As an indicator of economic growth inspired by new technologies, purchasing power in Great Britain doubled and total national income increased by a factor of ten in the years between 1800 and 1900.

Such changes also brought about a revolution in the political structure of the nation. Industrial capitalists gradually replaced agrarian landowners as leaders of the nation's economy and power structure.

Working conditions were often much less than satisfactory for many of the employees in the new factory's systems. Workplaces were often poorly ventilated, crowded, and fraught with safety hazards.

Men, women, and children alike worked for survival wages in unhealthy and dangerous environments. Workers often could not afford more than the simplest housing, leading to the rise of urban slums.

Main consequences of the industrial revolution

1- Education

Ragged School in Australia. Source: Ragged School, Harrington Street, The Rocks Uploaded by Oxyman

Before the Industrial Revolution, education was not free. Wealthy families could afford to send their children to school for a basic education, while the education of poor children was limited to tutorials offered in church schools on Sunday services.

However, in 1833 education received a help from the British government. The government, for the first time in history, allocated funds to promote education in schools. She gave money to charities for the purpose of helping make education accessible to children of all socioeconomic lines.

In the same year, the British government established laws requiring children working in factories to attend school for no less than two hours a day.

In 1844, the government-established Union of Ragged Schools focused on educating poor children, while the Public Schools Act, created in 1868, brought reform to the public school system in Great Britain by establishing basic requirements for students. educational standards.

2- New inventions and factory development

First factories of the Industrial Revolution / Photo recovered from: britishfoodhistory.wordpress.com

The industry entered into rapid growth in the 19th century. Production was increased and there was a greater demand for raw materials of all kinds, bringing with it great advances in technologies and forms of mass production.

3- Policy

Various photographs of the Industrial Revolution in the Netherlands. Source: FaceMePLS / Public domain

Although Great Britain had become a constitutional monarchy a century earlier, the vast majority of the population remained deprived of the electoral system. As the industrial force grew along with a more forced middle class, electoral reform was a necessity to balance the power structure of the new society.

Before 1832, only 6% of the male population could vote represented by aristocrats who owned large parcels of land in the countryside and other assets.

By 1832, middle-class factory owners wanted political power to coincide with their new-found economic coup, which led to the 1832 reform bill, which allowed 20% of the male population to vote.

The reform bill also redistributed electoral districts to better reflect large populations in urban centers.

4- Growth of cities

Newcastle (1832), one of the reference cities of the Industrial Revolution as a result of its port system and blast furnaces

One of the defining and most enduring characteristics of the Industrial Revolution was the rise of cities. In pre-industrial society, more than 80% of the population lived in rural areas. As the migrants moved out of the countryside, small towns became big cities.

By 1850, for the first time in world history, more people in one country - Great Britain - lived in cities than in rural areas. As other countries in Europe and North America industrialized, they also continued along this path of urbanization.

In 1920, most Americans lived in cities. In England, this process of urbanization continued unabated throughout the 19th century. The city of London grew from a population of two million in 1840 to five million forty years later.

5- Exploitation of mineral resources and increase in the workforce

Miners. Source: BMacZeroBot / Public domain

To increase production, new raw materials were needed in large quantities, so the workforce was improved and more resources were extracted from the ground and subsoil.

6- Child exploitation

Infant workers in the Industrial Revolution / Photo recovered from: webs.bcp.org

Child labor was an integral part of the early factories and mines. In textile mills, as new energy looms and spinning mules took the place of skilled workers, factory owners used cheap and unskilled labor to lower the cost of production. And child labor was the cheapest job of all.

Some of these machines were so easy to operate that a young child could perform the simple and repetitive tasks. Some maintenance tasks, such as squeezing in tight spaces, may be more easily performed by children than by adults. And, the children did not try to join the unions or go on strike. They were paid 1/10 of what the men were paid.

7- Family roles

Working woman in factory. Source: Themadchopper / Public domain

The Industrial Revolution completely transformed the role of the family. In traditional agricultural society, families worked together as a production unit, tending the fields, weaving sweaters, or tending to the fire.

Women could now be mothers and also play a role in the production of food or household goods. Work and play time was flexible and interwoven.

The same specialization of labor that occurred in the factories occurred in the lives of working-class families, breaking the family economy.

While many factory workers were initially women, most of them were young women who would stop working when they married.

8- Highly developed banking and investment system

Source: Smiley.toerist / Public domain

Thanks to advances in transport, agriculture and communication, there was a growth in world trade, which caused an increase in monetary investments for the implementation of new projects, from large factories to medium and small companies.

9- Wealth and income

A weaving with power looms in 1835. Source: Illustrator T. Allom / Public domain

Historians disagree on whether life improved for the working class in the first phase of the Industrial Revolution, from 1790 to 1850. EP Thompson argued in The Making of the English Working Class that life clearly did not improve for most the British:

“The experience of immutation came upon them in a hundred different ways: for the field worker, the loss of their common rights and the vestiges of village democracy; for the artisan, the loss of his artisan status; for the weaver, the loss of livelihood and independence; loss of home play for the child; for many groups of workers whose real earnings improved, the loss of security, leisure and the deterioration of the urban environment.

10- The emerging middle class

Great machinery of the Industrial Revolution / Photo recovered from proprofs.com

Little by little, very gradually, a middle class, or "middle class," emerged in the industrial cities, mostly towards the end of the 19th century. Until then, there were only two main classes in society: the aristocrats born into their lives of wealth and privilege, and the low-income commoners born into the working classes.

However, the new urban industries gradually required more of what we today call "white collar" jobs, such as entrepreneurs, merchants, bank salespeople, insurance agents, merchants, accountants, managers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

One evidence of this emerging middle class was the rise of retail stores in England, which increased from 300 in 1875 to 2,600 in 1890. Another striking distinction from the middle class was its ability to hire servants to cook and clean the house from time to time. in time.

This is proof of a small but growing middle class that prided itself on taking responsibility for themselves and their families. They viewed professional success as the result of a person's energy, perseverance, and hard work.

References

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2. Editorial team. (2017). "What were the effects of the Industrial Revolution?" IAC Publishing. Recovered from reference.com.
3. Editorial team "The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia" (2012). "Industrial Revolution". Columbia University Press. Recovered from nfoplease.com.
4. Nestor, T. (2017). "Chapter 25 - Effects of the Industrial Revolution". World History: Patterns of Interaction. Recovered from quizlet.com.
5. Bond, E. (2003). "Impact of the Industrial Revolution". Recovered from industrialrevolution.sea.ca.
6. Weightman, G. (2007). "The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914". New York: Grove Press. Printed.
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