Industrial revolution

Working conditions

Simply, the working conditions were terrible during the Industrial

Revolution. As factories were being built, businesses were in need of
workers. With a long line of people willing to work, employers could set
wages as low as they wanted because people were willing to do work
as long as they got paid.

Living conditions

As business began to boom and the national markets grew, more people began
to move to the Northeast because they wanted jobs. Most people lived in the
"slum" as depicted in the picture to the left. Five to nine people lived in a single
room which was as big as an apartment. Not only was there not enough room,
but more people got sick as well. Because everyone lived in terrible conditions
and so close to one another, diseases spread rapidly and lack of medicine and
medical care resulted in many deaths. At the time, population was increasing
rapidly because of more people moving in, so apartments became more
crowded and in worse condition. These were the people that lived every lives
that had to fight for jobs and competed to live.

Urbanization

The Industrial Revolution changed material production, wealth, labor

patterns and population distribution. Although many rural areas
remained farming communities during this time, the lives of people in
cities changed drastically. The new industrial labor opportunities
caused a population shift from the countryside to the cities. The new
factory work led to a need for a strict system of factory discipline.

Public health and life expectancy

There were few representative elections to produce forums for the

worse off to speak, and there was little power in the fields of town
planning even when there was such a field. Revenues tended to be
spent on large, new civic buildings. Some regions had chartered
boroughs with rights, and others found themselves governed by a lord
of the manor, but all these arrangements were too out of date to deal
with the speed of urbanization. Scientific ignorance also played a role,
as people simply didnt know what caused the diseases that afflicted
them.

Child labor

Child labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution. When the

industrial revolution first came to Britain and the U.S., there was a high
demand for labor. Families quickly migrated from the rural farm areas
to the newly industrialized cities to find work.

Work class families and the role of

women

During the Industrial Revolution, people from the countryside flocked to

cities and factory towns looking for a better life. They wanted to make
more money to support their families, and they hoped to move up in
the world. They believed that they had a wonderful opportunity to try
something new and take part in an era of wonderful progress.
Unfortunately, disillusionment soon followed when workers realized
that their new life wasn't at all what they thought it would be.

The Industrial Revolution in part was fueled by the economic necessity

of many women, single and married, to find waged work outside their
home. Women mostly found jobs in domestic service, textile factories,
and piece work shops. They also worked in the coal mines.

The emerging middle class

The middle class was composed of businessmen and other

professionals. The larger the Industrial Revolution grew, the more
powerful these individuals became. Individuals and groups formed new
libraries, schools, and universities because there was a sudden need
for education (possibly due to the increase in population). The middle
and upper classes had better food and housing, which led to fewer
diseases and longer living among these groups. Since these classes
were treated so well, their population grew and thus had minimal
difficulty living during the Industrial Revolution.

Wealth and income

between 1760 and 1860, technological progress, education, and an

increasing capital stock transformed England into the workshop of the
world.