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Child labor and the industrial revolution
Child labor and the industrial revolution
Child labor and the industrial revolution
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The Victorian Age, which generated the Industrial Revolution, brought many great technological feats and new advancements. These advancements include the steam engine, railroads, telegraphs, factories, modern sewage systems, and improved antiseptics and anesthetics. But with so much progress, there were also many drawbacks. Drawbacks included: child labor, overcrowding and slums developing in cities, and severe air and water pollution. The benefits of progress are not worth it because progress produced negative side effects to society. As a part of the Industrial Revolution, one of the biggest negative costs was child labor among many nations, especially in Europe. Children were expected to help towards the family budget since the wages at factories were so sparse. They often worked many dangerous jobs and in difficult situations. And in some cases, many children did an assignment that an adult could not complete. No child should have had to work in harsh and dangerous working environments. It put these children at risk for many diseases and possibly death, which no child should face. …show more content…
Illnesses expanded and killed many. Since families could not afford the rent being charged to them, they would rent out a room to one or two lodgers. Eventually, buildings became overcrowded. And since there were a scramble for jobs, workers lived nearby the workplace which caused an overcrowding in areas and made housing scarce and very expensive. As a result of overcrowding, slums began to form. Slums were classified as “hideous” and “disgusting” and also housed sometimes thirty or more people occupied a room in a slum. No person should live in a an overcrowded room because of a scramble for jobs. Lastly, no one should be homeless during a time like
The factory whistle blows right in the middle of your favorite dream. You wake up in a startle as you glance at the clock. 5:30 am. You rush to get out of bed, seeing that you have to get to work in 30 minutes. You splash some water on your face, brush your teeth, put on some fine factory clothes, pull your hair back, grab an apple and run as fast as a gazelle. The Industrial Revolution had both positive and negatives on the lives of adults and children during that time period.
The industrial revolution had mainly negative effects. The industrial revolution was a time in world history that has technically never ended. It is the time when society started to mass produce goods in order to provide enough goods for the booming population. People started to move from villages to cities where factories were looking for workers. New medical advances were made and people began to live longer. While some might argue that industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of the increased amount of new and cheaper products, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were the dangerous and sometimes lethal work areas, poor living conditions and cramped housing,
The kids under the age of fourteen were sent to go assist with the textile workers. They then would beat and verbally abuse the child. And if children would show up late, they would be weighted. Weighted means to put a very heavy weight on the child's back and have them walk up and down the factory aisles for hours, so other children can learn from it. This then resulted in back and neck injuries. (“Child Labor in Factories”) While this all seems really cruel, there were many positives that came out of child labor. Children were still able to contribute to their families. Money was a big struggle, and it had a major impact for poor families. Children were also getting a wide range of opportunities and work experiences for the future ahead. Although it might not be the best way to get experience, they were still helping out there families and showing respect towards them. This shows that during the Industrial Revolution, children were used harshly for labor, and the positives and negatives out of
Many businesses and factories hired children because they were easier to exploit; they could be paid less for more work in dangerous conditions. Plus, their small size made many children idea for working with small parts or fitting into small spaces. Children as young as four could be found working in factories, though most were between eight and twelve. Despite the economic gains made by the business that employed them, many children suffered in the workplace. The industrial setting caused many health problems for the children that, if they lived long enough, they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. Children were also more likely to face accidents in the workplace, often caused by fatigue, and many were seriously injured or killed. Despite efforts by reformers to regulate child labor, it wasn’t until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that children under 14 were prohibited from
Similarly, the change towards a factory-orientated nation was a harsh one for the industrialists. Many of the adult labor force had no training in how to use the machines and took awhile to pick up the new techniques (Basu and Van, 1998). It was more time consuming and costly to teach the adults than it was to hire children during this start of the revolution. Children could be molded into the ideal adult worker as they rose through the ranks in the factory. Studies indicate that about 50% of workers started working in the factories when they were less then ten years of age, from this overall amount 28% of these child workers started working when they were under the age of fourteen, while only 7.8% of workers started working in the textiles from the age of twenty- one or higher (Nardinelli, 1980). The aging of the generation of child factory workers improved the quality of adult factory workers and created a reserve pool of adults with factory experience. This pool of adults was particularly significant for men. As a child worker, they were exposed to many different positions and so learned a great deal amount of experience. Not only were the children fulfilling the basic factory needs but were creating a more work experienced labor force for the future. No longer where adults having to learn how to use machinery when entering the factory market but instead had worked in a textile during their childhood so had already obtained the human capital needed to work. The factory would then profit off of this future human capital and so keep on employing the massive amount of children in order to better themselves for the future while at the same time reaping the present value of cheap labor. With the underlying factors of cheap labor, inexpensive working conditions, and an ever-present labor market full of willing children, the industrial revolution had created a cost
Children as young as young as five or seven years old worked in dangerous factories. Many times if the children fell asleep while on the job, they would slip and get stuck in the machines, resulting in death. Child labor in the late 1800’s was very unsafe and put the lives of young children in danger. The children worked in very dangerous conditions, most of the time it was factories. The conditions were very poor, the factories were dirty and unsafe for children. The children would work for up to sixteen hours with little to no pay.
In 1929 the Great Depression occurred that sent a panic through the country and a sharp decline in the United States economy. This decline accompanied an increase in homeless people. Although the United States had seen its’ share of homeless, the 1930s-1940s marked the peak. Many people believed the government would provide assistance but were let down. These homeless created Shantytowns to live in and called them Hoovervilles. These Hoovervilles contained awful hygienic conditions that would put many people at risk. The Great Depression brought along hundreds and thousands of homeless people and shantytowns, which was blamed on the government but has shaped
Child labor is nothing but cheap labor. The big companies loved cheap labor because then they could make an item for not very much money, and make a huge profit margin. Fried continues to state how cheap the labor was, “One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with barbed wire ‘to keep the young imps inside.’ These were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night.” Unlike, children today who are in bed sleeping by 8 pm each night, these children had to stay up all night working to make just enough income for their families.
Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.
Slavery ended but there were still labor. Factory workers were forced to work in harsh conditions and were paid a low sum of money. The economy boomed because it was much easier to produce good. With the goods that were produced they were able to profit from it. The Population increase in the industrial revolution due to the increase of food supplies. More types of raw good were produced and traded with other nations. Women were not able to work while men were allowed to earned wages.Children were working in dangerous sitiutatosn, but eventually children were able to stop working.
The Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England brought about many changes in British society. It was the advent of faster means of production, growing wealth for the Nation and a surplus of new jobs for thousands of people living in poverty. Cities were growing too fast to adequately house the numerous people pouring in, thus leading to squalid living conditions, increased filth and disease, and the families reliance upon their children to survive. The exploitation of children hit an all time peak in Britain when generations of its youth were sacrificed to child labor and the “Coffers” of England.
England was a society dominated by children. During the reign of Queen Victoria one out of three of her servants were under the age of fifteen. Child labor was a prominent issue, because there were no systems to ensure the safety of children. During the start of the industrial revolution, there was a “high demand” for labor (Robson 53). Many families moved from rural areas to new, industrialized cities. After a while things weren’t looking as “promising” as they did before (Boone 23). In order to maintain, families had to put almost all of their family members to work. This led to a rise in the number of child labor. Children were “mistreated, underpayed and overworked” (Kincaid 30). Using children to do all of the hard work, the mining companies believed, was the most sensible and efficient way to get the job done. Because the children were a lot smaller, it was easy for them to “maneuver through tight spaces” and on top of that the children demanded little or no pay at all(Boone 43 ). These wages were enough to persuade companies to use children for all sorts of dangerous jobs such as coal mining and chimney sweeps. Children were called to do many other “horrible” jobs, jobs that adults in this era could not bear, just so long as the bills were paid (Robson 18). The working conditions and treatment of young children during this era was horrible and a lot was done to put an end to it.
The Industrial Revolution restructured the employer-employee relationship into an impersonal association exhibited by indifference to the quality of life of the worker. Children were especially exploited because they could be hired for lower wages and were made to work equally long days (Miller). Around the 1830s, children constituted about one-third of the labor in New England (Illinois Labor History Society). The conditions of workers as a whole necessitated action on behalf of the rights of laborers.
... this time is self-explanatory, the cost of labor had gone up along with the prices of everything else and child labor was significantly cheap (3-4). Children were sent into fields for twelve to thirteen hours a day picking fruits, cotton and tobacco. Some children delivered the newspaper on bike which is still a common job, only children back then did it hours on end tirelessly. Although the industrial revolution was almost 200 years ago (1820-1870) the influence it had on America is significant; imagine if children would have stayed in school during that time rather than going out and working extensive hours in field or factories. Do you think if children were never exposed to harsh working environments then, that today, child labor would be a problem? Many think our ancestors are to blame and others say children have been working since the days of the Egyptians.
Even though the pay was low for adults, it was still too much for the factory owners to afford. They also needed workers who were small enough to fit into the tight spaces in the new machines. Child labour is the only option. There were many more dangerous jobs which children had to perform, some included crawling under the wool and cotton machines to fix threads. These children had to work for the majority of the day with little or no breaks.