Fundamental Shifts
in Social Structure
triumph of the middle class
By 簡怡萱 吳雨柔 鍾宜靜 劉宜玫 曾鈺倩
Urbanization
 Factory--mechanization of cotton
spinning and other industries were in
need of large work force
 Enclosure laws drove farmers off of
land, who then flocked to the cities
for livelihood
Women and children at work
 Mechanization lightened need for
physical force
 Employing women and children:
lower pay, better control, driving
down wages for men
 Women’s income raises their
economic status in families but also
increases their workload—housework
is still their duty
Housing in the city
 concentration of population worsened
housing conditions in the city
 diseases & death are widespread—
cholera(霍亂), typhoid(傷寒), smallpox(天
花)
 improved in 19th century—government
and local plans (sewage, hygiene and
boundaries)
Over London by Rail Gustave Doré c. 1870. Shows the densely
populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities
Unemployment and riots
 invention of machinery disposed of
manual labor, driving them out of
business
 Luddites smashed machinery and
resisted mechanization盧德分子(19世
紀初英國手工業工人中參加搗毀機器的
人) 強烈反對機械化或自動化
Struggle of organized labor
 tried to advance the interests of
working people
 The Combination Act of 1799
prohibited trade unions, drove unions
underground
 Chartist movement (1830-1840)
fought for voting rights and political
participation
 British Labor Party (2/27/1990)
Chartist meeting, Kennington Common
Rise of Middle class
 Used to be only two classes: upper class
and peasants; the land as the only source
of wealth and livelihood
 Change in mode of production created
other sources of income
 Mostly consists of shopkeepers and
professional men (lawyers, doctors)
 Liberal in pushing for social change, but
conservative in moral values