Social Changes During The Industrial Revolution

• The social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution were significant
  • The Industrial Revolution brought with it an increase in population and urbanization, as well as new social classes

The poor living conditions in the towns can be traced to:

• Lack of good brick, the absence of building codes, and the lack of machinery for public sanitation.
• The factory owners’ tendency to regard laborers as commodities and not as a group of human beings.
• The Industrial Revolution created a new working class
• The new class of industrial workers included all the men, women, and children laboring in the textile mills, pottery works, and mines
• Wages were low, hours were long, and working conditions unpleasant and dangerous
• Women and children regardless of where they worked had the most exploitative working condition and the lowest rates of pay.

Conditions in City Life

• People flooded into cities from the countryside in hopes of finding jobs.
• Exclusive neighborhoods were built for the wealthy bourgeoisie, while the working poor was forced to live in the ghettos
• The poor were forced to tolerate intrusions even at the most intimate times.
• People were used to work and home being in the same place and it was normal for parents and children to work together

• Working day ranged from 12 to 16 hours
• As many as 8 to 10 people would share one room, families and single people of both genders would sleep together.
• Houses were built in rows or in squares with a common courtyard, in which there might be a water tap and a common toilet.
• There was little access to fresh air and little provision for clean water or removal of refuse, including human waste.

• When production was in demand, workers would work extremely hard for long hours.
• When the market was slow, they worked at a more leisurely pace.
• Employers imposed fines and penalties for lateness, interruptions in work, and absenteeism.

Social structure as a result of Industrial Revolution

• An increase in the standard of living eventually resulted from urbanization
• Gaps between the wealthy and working-class still remained enormous
• Industrial and urban development made society more diverse and less unified
• Diversity within the middle class

• Upper middle class: bankers, industrial leaders, large-scale commerce
• Diversified middle class: businessmen, professionals, merchants, doctors, and lawyers
• Lower middle class: independent shopkeepers and small traders
• Working-class: about 80% of the population

• Many were peasants and hired hands (especially in Eastern Europe)
• Less unified and homogeneous compared to the middle classes
• Highly skilled workers were at the top of the working-class (about 15% of pop.)
• Semi-skilled workers: carpentry, bricklaying, successful factory workers
• Unskilled workers and domestic servants were at the bottom.

Changing family

• Romantic love was the most important reason for marriage by 1850
• After 1850 the work of most wives made them increasingly distinct and separate from their husbands.
• Middle-class women began to organize and resist their second-class status to husbands
• Child-rearing was more child-centered with the wife dominating the home domain.

William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team)

William completed his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in 2013. He current serves as a lecturer, tutor and freelance writer. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, walking his dog and parasailing. Article last reviewed: 2022 | St. Rosemary Institution © 2010-2024 | Creative Commons 4.0

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