Positive And Negative Effects Of Industrialisation

In order to argue the positives and negatives of a broad and subjective term such as “industrialisation”, one must first define the terminology. The standard definition would allude to a “period of social and economic change”, the “Industrial Revolution”, which occurred from the 1760s onwards, to the mid-19th century. This move from an agrarian to an industrial society brought both positive and negative effects on the lifestyle of British people, from all backgrounds. Scientific advances in mass production and agriculture caused an expanding capital stock. Urban Britain soon became the factory of the world, with changes to health, housing and real wages seen at all levels of society.

Popular history and modern depictions in the media would

As the scholar Peter Mathias asserts, any improvement in living standards should be analysed contextually, ex ante, compared to the conditions preceding the industrial revolution, as opposed to Dickensian portrayals of life in the period. 19th Century economic statistician Gregory King believed that half of the nation were “paupers, needing charity if not poor relief to make ends meet”. Prior to industrialisation, profitable employment for the proletariat had been irregular and unskilled, which resulted in low wages and non-existent workers’ rights. Initially the industrial revolution brought negative impacts on the health, livelihood and potential to earn on the working class. Industrial foremen expected labourers to lose the pace seen in rural areas for the sake of industrial output. Prior to the 1840s, most workers toiled six days a week, for up 14 hours a day. In the early stages of industrialisation, the British government actively sought to prevent workers’ rights movements from flourishing. The 1799-1800 Combination Acts outlawed trade unions, essentially to prevent dissidence. A lack of centralised opposition to these conditions and the speed of growth in industries meant that preventative legislation was non-existent for much of the 19th century, with the decision to treat employees with respect lying with the

As the socialist historian Alice Green asserted in 1916, the industrial revolution created “a middle class of prodigious wealth and activity, and a vast working class on the borders of starvation.” For the first time, social mobility became a possibility for the lower classes, as the range of occupations increased. In the 19th century, for the first time the government appeared to accept culpability for the disregarded vulnerable in society. Peel 's Factory Act of 1802 enabled some class movement within cotton mills, as apprentices were to be afforded a basic literary education. As a result, a minority of labourers were promoted to be clerks, undertaking an administrative role, as opposed to unskilled physical labour. White-collar positions came with a wage increase and higher social standing among unschooled colleagues, affording material amenities and money to raise healthy children. “Closed” scholarships and certain monetary grants were available to a small number of working class children Aside from class, gender was also a primary decider for living standards. Women were usually only taught to learn to read, with minimal higher education in comparison to men. Additionally, educational rights for mill workers was often ignored in practice, as mill owners often