The Industrial Revolution and the Life in Urban Society

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The Industrial Revolution and the Life in Urban Society

The Industrial Revolution began in the late eighteen and nineteenth centuries due to a rapid emergence of modern industrial production that changed society significantly. Goods that were produced in homes and small family businesses began to be produced in large industrial factories. As a result of this, productivity and efficiency increased dramatically, which caused a significant shift in the present economy. The Industrial Revolution led to the growth of cities as people moved from rural areas to the city in order to find work. Karl Marx believed that the changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution overturned not only the traditional economies, but also society in general.

Before the Industrial Revolution, society and the economy were heavily determined by agriculture. Economic growth was slow, and people depended on traditional means to get by. The majority of the society were farmers and raised other animals. During the eighteenth century population began to boom. There are four primary reasons that may be cited for this growth: a decline in the death rate, an increase in the birth rate, the virtual elimination of plagues, and an increase in the availability of food[i]. The population growth created a great deal of labor. The need for workers on the farm began to decrease due to the technological advantages. Due to the increase in technology, it created more jobs in the city factories instead of the farms. This new shift in society created urbanization, which meant people moving to the cities from their rural areas.

The explosion of new technology was the leading factor for the Industrial Revolution....

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October 2001).

[ii] Zlotnick, Susan, Women, Writing and the Industrial Revolution, John-Hopkins

University Press. 1998

[iii] Marx, Karl. “Communist Manifesto.” History of Religious Studies. 1sted. Page.10.

[iv] Hughes, Kristine. Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England. Writer’s Digest

Books. 1998.

[v] Marx, 20.

[vi] Marx, 24.

[vii] Huges, 70.

[viii]Sale, Kirkpatrick, Rebels against the Future. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

1995.

[ix] Engels, Friederich, “Industrial Manchester, 1844,” Modern History Sourcebook.

2002, http://www.frodham.edu/halsall/mod/1844engels.html. (14 April 2002).

[x] Chadwick, Edwin, “Chadwick’s Report on Sanitary Conditions,” Victorian Web. 2002,

http://65.107.211.206/victorian/history/chadwick2.html. (14 April 2002).

[xi] Sale, 67.

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