The Social Impact of Industrialization
Chapter 7, Section 3
Reasons for Urbanization*
• Changes in farming
• Soaring population growth
• Ever-increasing demand for workers
*Do you remember from yesterday what urbanization means?
Manchester, England
Visitors described the “cloud of coal vapor” that
polluted the air, the pounding noise of steam
engines, and the filthy stench of its river…
1750:
1780:
1801:
17,000
40,000
70,000
New Social Classes Emerge
THE INDUSTRIAL MIDDLE CLASS
• The Industrial revolution
created a new middle class
that were entrepreneurs,
merchants, inventors, and
artisans.
• The new middle class lived
in well-furnished, spacious
homes.
• The wealthy had
maidservants to look after
their children, and the
working class, whose
children were a part of the
workforce.
THE INDUSTRIAL WORKING CLASS
•
•
•
Vast number of the population
were poor and struggled to survive
in foul-smelling slums.
Tenements – low-cost, multifamily
housing designed to squeeze in as
many people as possible.
No housing laws meant that
landlords didn’t have to adhere to
any codes
– Considered some of the worst
housing ever built in the US
– Rooms built for single
occupants housed multiple
families
– Usually had 2-3 rooms (10 feet
square)
– One room looked out onto the
street and one room looked
into the airshaft
= Bedroom
= Living room
D
D
= Hallway
Hallway in a tenement
Airshaft
Airshaft was
intended to provide
ventilation, but it
also doubled as the
tenement
dumpster! What
problems would
arise as a result?
Room in a tenement, 1910. This family probably lived in this room
and possibly one other smaller room
Bohemian cigar makers at work in their tenement…home
doubles as work site
Lodgers in a crowded tenement…how many people are here?
Bathrooms & Plumbing
• Outhouses in the courtyard
• Some would have an indoor bathroom on
each floor
– Problem: too much use = overflow
• Water - outdoor pumps near outhouses
– Women washed clothing there
– Would carry water upstairs for cooking/bathing
As many as 150 people and two shops on the bottom level filled each building. Toilets like this,
four per floor, were communal, and were located near and vented into the air shaft that served
the inner apartments as their only source of light and air. 1905 photo.
Heat
• Most had a coal stove in the kitchen
• Could get heat from gas pipes - insert coins
into a meter
Tenement yards were the only
place for kids to play, but were
also breeding grounds for
violence, drunkenness and
delinquency
In a seven-cent lodging-house
The man slept in this cellar for four years, about 1890
WORKERS STAGE FUTILE PROTESTS
• Labor Union: workers' organization
• Labor unions were illegal at the time, but secret
unions did exist among frustrated British workers.
• They wanted fair pay, fewer hours, and better
working conditions.
• Unfortunately, they didn’t have any political power
The Luddites
First instances of industrial riots in
England: 1811 – 1813
Luddites: A group of textile workers
began smashing the machines and
burning down factories
WORKERS FIND COMFORT IN
RELIGION
• Found comfort in religious
movement called Methodism.
• This movement was influenced
by the Industrial Revolution as
people moved to the cities and
away from the church.
• Movement was started by
John Wesley and he stressed
the need of personal sense of
faith.
• The Methodists helped
channel the anger away from
the revolution and towards
the reform.
Life in the Factories and Mines
The heart of the new industrial city was the
factory. The technology of the machine age
imposed a harsh new way of life on workers.
Factory Workers Face Harsh
Conditions
• Working in factories was much more difficult
than working on the farm.
• Working on a farm had limited hours and
season.
• Working in the factory consisted of long shifts
lasting from 12 to 16 hours, six to seven days a
week.
• Workers suffered from accidents with the
machines that had no safety devices.
Factory Conditions, Continued…
• In textile mills, workers were
constantly breathing in air filled
with lint that would damage their
lungs.
• Majority of early factory works
were women
• Employers often preferred to hire
women workers because they
thought women could adapt more
easily to machines. (They also paid
them half as much as men!)
• Women would often work 12
hours in the factories then have to
go home and tend to their
families.
Miners Face Worse Conditions
• The Industrial Revolution
increased the demand for iron
and coal. This increased the need
for miners.
• Miners were paid more, but the
work was very harsh.
• They worked in darkness and coal
dust destroyed their lungs.
• The danger was also to an
extreme, explosions, flooding
and collapsing of tunnels made it
really dangerous.
• Children and women often
pushed heavy coal carts through
the tunnels.
Children Have Dangerous Jobs
•Many boys and girls worked in factories and mines.
•Children often started working at age seven or eight, a few as young as
five.
•They changed spools in the hot and humid textile mills where sometimes
they couldn't even see because of all the dust. Children crawled under
machinery to repair broken threads in the mills.
•In the mines, some children sat all day in the dark, opening and closing
air vents. Others hauled coal carts in extreme heat.
•Parents accepted the idea of child labor because they helped with work
on the farm and the earnings that the children earned were needed to
keep their families from starving.
Child Labor, Continued…
•Child labor reform laws were passed in the early 1800s,
called "factory acts." These laws reduced a child's workday
to twelve hours and also removed children under the age
of eight or nine from the cotton mills.
•The laws were generally not enforced so British
lawmakers formed teams of inspectors to ensure that
factories and mines obeyed the laws.
•More laws were passed to shorten the workday for
women and require children who work to be educated.
Results of Industrialization
2. Wages
increased
1. Better wages, hours,
working conditions,
Suffrage for workingclass males
2. More money for
consumer goods
3. Demands for
goods grew
4. Railroad costs
fell
3. More factories meant
more jobs
4. More people could visit
other towns
1. Formation of
unions
Let’s Review!
On a sheet of notebook paper,
number from 1 to 7.
REVIEW:
1. What caused the growth of cities
during the Industrial Revolution?
a. growing demand for farmers
b. creation of a new middle class
c. unsanitary conditions
d. need for factory workers
2. Those who benefited most
from the Industrial Revolution
were:
a. entrepreneurs.
b. women and children.
c. former farm workers.
d. the industrial working class.
3. Luddites, who smashed machines in
Britain, were groups of:
a. rural workers.
b. textile workers.
c. miners.
d. missionaries.
4. Why did the factory owners often
prefer to hire women?
a. women were highly skilled.
b. women worked harder than men.
c. women did not need health
benefits.
d. women could be paid less than
men.
5. What was one hazard of working
in textile factories?
a. darkness
b. explosions
c. air filled with lint
d. low ceiling
6. In the 1830s and 1840s, British
inspectors made sure that:
a. textile quality was high.
b. mines were safe.
c. Methodism was followed.
d. labor laws were followed.
7. One positive effect of the
Industrial Revolution was:
a. a drop in workplace injuries.
b. a drop in employment.
c. a rise in wages.
d. better mass-produced goods.