How Did Child Labor Change In The Industrial Revolution

The way in which people work in the labor force and are managed has changed quite a big deal since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Industrial Revolution many people worked on the land and worked at a pace that was applicable for them with no one looking over their shoulder to make sure work was being done. One of the biggest reasons for the changes to the industrial society pertains to the discipline and surveillance in the labor force. Some of the many changes that that occurred because of the how laborers worked and having a manager were: strikes, the ending to child labor, creation of the middle class, and new political ideology.

When male workers were beginning to work in the factories, they were to arrive on

Young children were exploited and quick pace but an unnecessary burden on the children. In the early 1800’s, it was common to put children on dangerous machinery because of their small quick fingers, such as tying broken threads on the machine, while the machine was running. Child workers were separated from parents and placed under the supervision of strangers. Parents extremely disliked the unorthodox method of having their child work under someone outside the family. The improvement in machinery, humanitarian concerns, and parents convinced Britain to pass child labor laws in 1833. Not having children in the workforce created a new belief that childhood was for education, not for work. Labor discipline was one of the major reasons why child labor laws came into

William Morris described the system as a battleground, in that owners pushed their workers to new bounds to make the products required of them, to make a profit for the owner. Morris then goes on to say competition between nations, manufacturers, and individuals are immoral and there is a way to live in peace and harmony. The only way is through socialism. The principal idea of socialism is that people should have an even playing field, which would deter competition workforce. The socialist principal idea would have been improbable if not for the hardships many laborers faced because people’s lives were so miserable that someone concluded that a new form of government and dealing with the economy was needed.

In response to all the changes that occurred in Western society pertaining to labor disciplines, the government of the respected countries changed also. Child labor laws required children of a particular age to be educated and in response the government got more involved in education, which meant creating a core curriculum for primary students and creating schools for teachers. In response to child labor laws, governments got involved in the working conditions of laborers, which created a specialist bureaucracy, a way to monitor the following labor and safety