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Different social classes can be distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, and wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life span, education, religion, and culture. The 19th century was primarily divided into four distinct social groups (or classes): “upper class”, “middle class”, “working class”, and “under class”. Beneath the working class of industrial workers, submerged the “under class”. They were often referred to as the “sunken people”-- those of which lived in poverty. Each class included a wide range of occupations of varying status and income; there was a large gap between the classes. Early in the 19th century the labels “working classes” and “middle classes” were already coming into frequent usage. The old inherited aristocracy, reinforced by the new gentry who owned their success to business, industry, and the professions, evolved into an “upper class” which grimly maintained control over the political system, depriving not only the working classes, but also the middle classes of a voice in (the) political developments. However, the increasingly powerful middle classes undertook organized demonstrations to remedy this situation while the working class became hostile to not only the upper class, but the middle class as well. The working class was not exactly the lowest class but endured a lot of hardships. They endured unemployment, long hours with little pay; factories full of filth, animals and pests, harsh climate/temperatures,...
Before World War II, Britain was strictly divided into classes: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower working class. Once born into a class, it was almost impossible to leave; people were bound to classes for life. The structure was stern and rigid. George Orwell even called England (and by extension Britain) “the most class-ridden country under the sun.” Classes tolerated each other, but the “upper and middle class people were brought up to believe the lower classes dirty and inferior,” creating an environment of stark inequality (The Class System). The small upper class held the majority of the wealth and employed much of the large lower class as servants, paying them menial wages. The middle class, who consisted of doctors, shopkeepers, lawyers, and people in similar professions, remained sandwiched in the center. On September 7, 1940 the blitz began and bombs started to rain down on London. However, the force of the bombs did little to blast away the walls that separated and distinguished the classes.
If you have ever read the book 1984 by George Orwell, then an interesting topic may have crossed your mind. The way the classes of people break down can be quite similar, and very different at times. In the United States, we have classes like the lower class, the working class, and the middle class. In 1984, there were such classes as the Proles, the Outer Party, and the Inner Party. The way the classes are broken down in 1984 reminds me a little bit of my old history class. When I studied medieval times and the classes back then were broken down into the nobles, the bourgeois, and the serfs.
There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.
Various people from the late nineteenth century held diverse opinions on political issues of the day. The source of this diversity was often due to varying backgrounds these people experienced. Three distinct groups of people are the farming class, the political bosses, and the immigrants, who poured into the country like an unstoppable flood. These groups of people also represented the social stratification of the new society, which had just emerged from rapid industrialization. These three groups had large differences in many aspects such as power, amount of money, and influence in political events of the day. The political boss dominated local city governments and pretended to be Robin Hoods of industrial society, but in reality were just petty thieves, attempting to earn large sums of money. The men involved in agricultural work were in a precarious situation. They experienced countless forms of natural disasters that constantly beset them and made it a formidable task to grow crops in such a hostile environment. Crops sold for ridiculously low amounts of money, and subsistence was a challenge, a challenge that many failed to overcome. The immigrants faced some of the greatest obstacles out of any class at the time. They were discriminated against by the “native-born” Americans and had to face sharp ethnic prejudice. Many immigrants were unskilled laborers and nearly all lived in poverty. These three diverse groups lived very differently from each other and held diverse views on important issues of the time period. The new emerging modes of thought contributed to the rise of new political organizations, such as the People’s or Populist party.
From the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century major historical events such as the Industrial revolution had occurred. During this period of time Europe was switching into an economy that is focused mostly on the industrial field. From this emerged two social-economic classes, the rich bourgeoisie and the poor proletariats. Furthermore, tension brewed between the two groups since the bourgeoisie source of wealth was from the exploitation of the proletariats. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ book
An Analysis on the lives of the Upper, Middle, and Lower classes during the Industrial Revolution
Institutions are crucial for our society to be successful because it is a social and academic construction of a community in that institutions help us interact with each other and promote scientific research and findings, regardless of the cultures and values that each individual believes in; without institutions, there would be no order and stability in society. However, in the essay “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society” by Joseph Stiglitz, Stiglitz disagrees by arguing that institutions actually prevent scientific research to evolve into scientific discoveries because monopolists and dominant forms such as Microsoft suppress innovation; however, this statement is unconscionable
With this in mind, some perspective on the society of that time is vital. During this time the industrial revolution is taking place, a massive movement away from small farms, businesses operated out of homes, small shops on the corner, and so on. Instead, machines are mass-producing products in giant factories, with underpaid workers. No longer do people need to have individual skills. Now, it is only necessary that they can keep the machines going, and do small, repetitive work. The lower working class can no longer live a normal life following their own pursuits, but are lowered to working inhumane hours in these factories. This widens the gap between the upper and lower class-called bourgeois and proletariat-until they are essentially two different worlds. The bourgeois, a tiny portion of the population, has the majority of the wealth while the proletariat, t...
There are many opportunities in America that can improve one’s wealth and power, thus leading to the mass amount of immigrants coming to American. Most immigrants that come to American usually are categorized as the lower class immigrants, but they take any opportunities to improve their economic status. In an article by Howard P. Chudacoff, it states “immigrants generally chose upward paths that led from manual labor into small proprietorships” (Chudacoff 1982: 104). This explains the reason why immigrants choose to come and stay in America. They start out small as laborers then over time they will work to own a small business. Even though immigrants gets to grow to move from the lower class to the middle class, the natives will be always
As time moves on the world has plenty of opportunities to improve and make changes. The world has an abundance of dilemmas, but equality should no longer be one of those dilemmas. Equality is seen as a part of humanity and if there are limits to equality, then there are limits on humanity. In the story, The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara, the topic of equality and socioeconomic status are often discussed. According to the American Psychological Association the definition of socioeconomic status is, “the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation” (socioeconomic status). The story is about an educated African American teacher who takes her barely
Whilst in comparison the middle class, who were the indirect architects of the problem, continue to widen the gap between the two classes, a theme which is encapsulated by Marx as he writes ‘[the proletariat] are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself.’
In most parts all over the world some form of violence exists. It may emerge from all different sources but violence is violence whether it comes about in a pretty bow tied package or an ugly lump of matter. It is all around us. But contrary to popular belief, violence is not always the bloodiest battles or the longest wars. Sometimes it is the things that seem trivial and minute that can create the most violent of situations. And we see all throughout history that discrimination can be deemed as one of the most violent acts of man. Discriminations can range from the inability to vote to earning a significantly lower wage and a means for living compared to men. Globally, both past and present woman have encountered many different forms of social injustices.
The modern bourgeois society […] has established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in the place of old ones. Our epoch has simplified the class antagonisms: Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, two great camps facing each other: Bourgeois and Proletariat (Cohen and Fermon, 448-449).
The line was extremely long and people would be camped outside just so they could see a doctor. Many people who were there had serious injuries and sicknesses and hadn’t seen a doctor or dentist in a very long time. One gentleman in particular was so sick that the doctors strongly suggested he go to the emergency room, that his sickness could be fatal. However, in the end, the gentlemen refused to go to the emergency because the medical bill would be extremely high. Income inequality is a social problem because a lot of people in society are affected in a negative way because of it.
As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. A lot of people don't realize that although things are improving with time, inequality is still prominent in our society. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. They rise well above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically sound lives. They are the people who are supplied with our society's benefits.