Effects of the Industrial Revolution Poor Working Conditions

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Poor Working Conditions. • Working was often extremely hazardous. • There were few safeguards around machinery. • Thousands of workers were injured/killed in accidents each year. Deformed -Health issues from soot & smoke; diseases: black lung, cancer -Children beaten, fall asleep due exhaustion Boring, Repetitive Tasks. • As industrialists sought to achieve greater speed & efficiency, the worker became nothing more than a human machine. • Work became less skilled, more repetitive monotonous and boring. Low Wages. • Employers hired the cheapest possible laborers. • Women and children were especially low-paid. • Child laborers as young as 6: missed sunshine, fresh air, play and the chance to better their lives through schooling. Long Hours. • Working hours were very long. • Employees faced a six-day week with between 10 and 14 hours of work a day. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=C Re. DRHDYhk 8 (tedious work) PROBLEMS FACED BY INDUSTRIAL WORKERS Lack of Security. • The worker could be fired at any time for any reason. • There was no unemployment insurance, health insurance, old-age pensions, paid holidays or paid sick days.

Urbanization – the change from rural countryside to dense cities • Small villages became towns and then cities • Cities grew & had a high population density: the working class was packed into slum areas of towns; cellars used as dwellings • Poor sewage or sanitation system: unpaved streets, riddled with holes; garbage thrown in street to rot, no gutters or drains, sewage flowed into rivers & canals, no ventilation • Cleanliness was difficult; water sources tainted with waste or dyes • Crowded conditions meant disease spread

Urbanization

Changes to Society due to the Industrial Rev • Men emerged as the primary wage earner • Women were denied good jobs & good wages in urban economy and expected to focus on the home & child rearing • Married women rarely were employed; only poorest classes; competed with younger single women; low pay dead end jobs; unable to support an independent living. • Could not pace their work when pregnant, watch children or breast feed while in factories • Increased illegitimate births; increased need for orphanages • Increased alcoholism

Effects of Industrial Rev on the Economy • • • Cotton trade tripled; Iron manufacturing doubled Wages for spinners/weavers increased at first • Steam engines increased demand for fuel (coal), increased employment & led to construction of canals & RR • Goods were cheaper, transportation was faster & foreign good increased • Heads of families died early; increased widows & orphans

Reasons for Child Labor 1. Paid Less Money $ 2. Easier to Control 3. Can Fit into Smaller Places 4. Poverty meant whole families worked in factories: their work was bound to adults; worked as family units; parents lost jobs if they spoke against abuse

http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=r DN 3 X-WORI 4

Big Business • Laissez-faire policies & profits motivated investors • Corporations – many investors own shares called stocks. (RRs, cars, steel, energy, telegraph and telephone) • As industries grew, some businesses wanted to eliminate competition. • Monopoly – A company or group of companies that has complete control over a particular field of business. –Why are monopolies bad for

Responses to the Industrial Revolution • Luddite movement: British weavers and textile workers who broke into factories and smashed textile machines. (Today someone who dislikes new technology. )

Responses to the Industrial Revolution • Workers formed labor unions: organization [created] to protect the workers. Ex. Amalgamated Society of Engineers – Workers were beaten, worked long hours, in poor conditions, for little pay. – Collective Bargaining: negotiations between an employer and trade union. (TGIF)

Passed by Parliament in 1799, it outlawed unions & stikes and repealed in 1824

Responses to Conditions in Factories • Saddler Report: hearings & testimony from workers & employers on the conditions. • Parliament Legislation – Factory Act of 1833: Limited the working day for children. – B/w ages 9 and 13 boys and girls could not work longer than 8 hour days. – For children age 14 to 18, the limit was 12 hour days. • 1842 Mines Act: Made it illegal to hire women to work in mines. Made 13 minimum age to hire boys. • –New Ideologies formed: • Socialism/Marxism/Communism

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Effects of the Industrial Revolution • Positive Effects • Negative Effects – New technology (steam engine, cotton gin, etc. ) – Cheaper prices- people can buy more stuff! – Rise of the middle class – Urbanization- growth of cities and large towns (good and bad!) – Improved transportation – Labor Unions to protect people’s rights – Imperialism- taking over of new territory for more raw materials (good for mother country, bad for colony) – Poor working conditions in factories – Rise of child labor – Increase in urban poverty – Slums • New Economic and Political ideologies emerge (Socialism, Communism, and Capitalism)

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