Industrial Revolution Argumentative Essay

Industrial Britain was an era of contradiction. Economic growth and innovation existed in great contrast with intensified poverty and class disparity. The technological changes cannot be denied, but it is arguable to what extent these advancements were to the benefit of society or at what cost they came. There was a significant rise in the middle class corresponding to an overall increase in quality of life, yet the lower class plunged deeper into pauperism . The demographics of cities and classes radically changed in this time, but does this correlate to net positive progression? Essentially, the answer to this depends on what perspective one adopts. Numerous contradictions exist in documentations of the time, showing an indelible bias, which

This inclination creates the rigid dichotomy between whether industrialisation was detrimental or beneficial. In fact, industrial Britain had elements of both, but ultimately was just a massive change, catalyzing change across Europe and shaping the future. Industrialisation created benefits and detriments, but it is impossible to objectively compare them. The changes were so vast and varied and affecting many different levels of society that to come to a conclusion, one aspect must be favoured. Major bias exists in discussion of the Industrial Revolution even among its contemporaries. Thus, it is quite impossible to determine empirically whether industrialisation is best described as detrimental or beneficial. Indeed, industrialisation radically changed the way of life in Britain and all of Europe, but the varying changes are intertwined and not able to be separated and compared fairly. Complex change such as this cannot be dissected and scrutinised for good versus bad; the industrial revolution is both and it is neither. It cannot be