The Postive Economic Changes in the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of change. The growth of factories replaced the home industries and started the development of large cities. These growing cities with their factories created changes not only to the people’s working conditions but also to the transportation and type of labor. There were many positive economic changes and advancements however, along with those positive economic changes there were many negative changes to the social life and the workers overall health. 3Life in the factory was most challenging for the first generation of industrial workers who still remembered the slower and more flexible pace of country life. Factory employers demanded a complete change of pace and discipline from the village life.

Before the revolution, jobs were limited because the work was completed using animals or hand power. Many of the jobs required men with specific skills which were accomplished through long hours of work and practice. In the past and in the present it could be clearly seen that the sprouting factories have brought high commands for individuals to function the births of new technology including the adoption of the spinning jenny, water frame, and spinning mule that made the textile industry possible. The economy and the workers did the manufacturing from their homes. They would purchase the materials from merchants and then go back to their homes to produce the product. The productivity for this type of work was slow but still efficient. The speed at which the goods were produced affected the price of the good. The prices were high and were really only afforded by the upper class. The Industrial Revolution meant that mass production of products could be made in a short time and at a lower cost. This ...

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...ived in unsanitary homes infested with germs and worked in very similar conditions. The women and children worked in harsh conditions, while working very long hours, for very little pay. The workers would sacrifice their freedom, family and their own health to just put food on the table. The British Factory Act of 1833 was passed to improve the working conditions and to enforce restrictions on child labor. Eventually, man started to earn the living outside of the home while the women stayed home and took care of the children. Europe was changed both socially and economically and guided other countries through their own processes.

Works Citied:

1. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chadwick2.html

2. http://www.vistorianweb.org/history/workers1.html

3.http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/IREffects.html#workingconditions