Social Classes During The Industrial Revolution

Three groups that were affected by the Industrialization were middle and lower class, African Americans, and women rights. Middle and lower class workers were affected by Industrialization because the growth of the middle class had expanded, and professional employment had increased, but the lower class was the victims of the industrialization because the assembly line took a lot of the jobs of a lot of workers (Gilder Lehrman Institute, 2009). Another example of the middle and lower class is Union labor groups defend workers because employers just viewed workers as cost of production then regular individuals. That’s when the

Although blacks became sharecroppers, the land owners ensured that the blacks would always be indebted to them (Kennedy 8). They were paid the bare minimum, and they experienced similar sufferings of being a slave. Because the Civil War caused many to become poor, they could barely pay to hire people they used to be able to receive free labor from. In other parts of the country, more immigrants were being hired because they were willing to work for lower wages than others (Batchelor, Immigrants). While the big businesses were making more money from paying them less, most people had a hard time finding decent paying jobs. More labor unions, like the Knights of Labor, AFL, and National Labor Union (Batchelor, Organized), were formed to protect workers’ rights because they were not being paid enough and had to work in horrible conditions for long hours. They usually caused strikes to make the bosses pay them better and refused to work. In retaliation, the bosses would simply hire others desperate for a job and fire the ones on strike. Since the government supported businesses more, they did nothing to help the workers. The big businesses were thriving from paying their workers less and it was easier to find

With this comes many advantages and disadvantages towards the high and low class. Workers began to be treated unfairly during these changes giving many high powered businessmen an idea to do the same thing. With all the new immigrants coming into America with nothing they had no other choice but to accept their unfair rights and work. Immigrants and children becoming the vast majority of the population means almost everyone was working, stated by the Liz Library how, “Tonight while we sleep, several thousand little girls and men will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the looms spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy,” showing many were working and being treated unfairly by doing

The lives of the industrial classes were all different. The upper class lived in luxury while attending fancy parties and extravagant dinners. The middle class did not have as much money as the upper class. Although, they had enough money to support their families and live comfortably. The lower class were not as fortunate. They lived in unsanitary conditions and had to face many struggles just to be able to barley have enough to live. The differences between the 3 classes lead to social, economic , and political issues.

Due to mechanization and more jobs for more people, immigration to America rose extremely quickly, which completely changed the economic structure of America. People from around the world immigrated to America to achieve the “American Dream” (to become successful in America) and with wages and jobs rising, immigration drastically flourished. Factories needed more people to work and build items quickly. Mass production and mechanization led to Taylorism, managing people in a work environment and pushing for as much efficiency as possible. With more people making money, the wealth pool in America expanded to lower classes and American society also modernized. The industrial age improved the lives of everyone, since wages increased, society completely improved. Better housing and higher life expectancy showed how the industrial age improved the lives of the working class. During the height of the industrial revolution, achieving success became easier to accomplish for all Americans due to the rise of wages and economic

The Industrial revolution started in Britain around 1750 and by 1850 it will make Great Britain the wealthiest country in the world. The revolution also spread to other European countries and the New World. Both Germany and United States will surpass Britain in the next fifty years. What was the effect of The Industrial Revolution on the working class?

During the Industrial Revolution, the quality of life improved for middle and upper classes, however for the lower classes the living conditions decreased. England built large factories that supported upper and middle classes with production of goods and large amount of laborers. Those

The rich would have clean water and lived in wonderful homes. The poor would live in slums and unlivable conditions with feces littered everywhere and the rent was too high and the pay was too low. The rich who owned big businesses would create monopolies and became very crooked which gave no equality to the workers. This would cause the poor to try and work as hard as they can because the business owners were able to band together through monopolies. These monopolies were to keep lower wages AND longer, unreasonable hours. Work related accidents were common and would either lead to mutilation or being fired on the spot with no more pay if you were severely injured. These conditions would lead to the creation of the Unions.

Despite the continuation of capitalism, the middle class successfully emerged as the dominating class in our society. As Lewis Corey states, “Workers were becoming capitalists, the capitalists becoming workers.” Industrial capitalism spawned a middle class, molded the exact same way that Marx predicted in his major work.

This shift created a middle class due to the fact that goods were being produced at a faster more efficient rate and being bought for a lower price, allowing people to have left over money that could be used on personal items rather than for survival. Creating the third class in an otherwise dual class system of rich and poor, formally the bourgeois and the proletariat. Another important effect the Industrial Revolution had on society was the formation of unions. In the beginning of the revolution employers would not provide safe working conditions or equal working wages. Women formed the first union requesting that they be paid the same amount as a man for the same amount of work. Other unions, not specified to women, fought for safer and more sanitary working conditions. For one of the first times in history employees had felt the power to stand up for themselves and demand things from their boss, in a reasonable fashion. This shows that due to the rapid technological advancements, society had to advance as well to properly function amongst the change. Advancement usually occurs as a direct result of another change because as one thing changes the other things that affects it or it is effect by needs to adapt as

• The middle class allowed people to have more freedom, allowing them to not work all day

Some children had to work really long hours, “Typical day at the mines starts at 7:00 A.M. and ends around 6:00 P.M.: ‘I get my dinner at 12 o’clock, which is a dry muffin, and sometimes butter on, but have no time allowed to stop to eat it, I eat it while I am thrusting the load….’”. Because of the long hours the children had to work they finally enacted laws to protect child labor. “Factory Act of 1833 outlawed the employment of children under the age of nine in textile mills.” These laws helped over time but people still snuck into factories and worked. Sometimes the children had no choice but to work their families were poor and needed money to survive.

The buildings were positive because they gave homeless people places to live. Also, they were built within walking distance of a factory but built away from the smoke they built churches and architecture that was modernized they had also built row houses and apartments for people who needed homes when they moved. A Second Positive Effect the industrial Revolution had been The changing class structure because basically people started to make more money, this was because they were coming out with laws that forced the factory owners to pay a minimum wage, also there was a middle class which started to emerging which basically got rid of an aristocracy. A Third Positive Effect is that the middle class was another result of the Industrial Revolution, because of industrialization many people were not being able to earn money, not enough to be considered wealthy, but more than poor, thus creating a middle

However the “working class” was not lowest class during the industrial revolution, they at least were represented by the unions and aloud to participate in the AFL. All of this promoted social inequality by treating this “working class” as slaves. The higher classes knew that they could get away with this because the newly built factories forced the common workingman off of his farm and into the factory.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were full of evolving social and economic ideas. These views of the social structure of urban society came about through the development of ideas taken from the past revolutions. As the Industrial Revolution progressed through out the world, so did the gap between the class structures. The development of a capitalist society was a very favorable goal for the upper class. By using advanced methods of production introduced by the Industrial Revolution, they were able to earn a substantial surplus by ruling the middle class. Thus, maintaining their present class of life, while the middle class was exploited and degraded. At this time in history, social