The Industrial Revolution: A Result of the Modern World Today “The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization.” Stephen Gardiner succinctly describes the Industrial Revolution with this quote as a phenomenal turning point in the world. Between the 1700s and the 1800s, Britain’s onset of The Industrial Revolution forever changed life for humanity throughout the world. There were several negative and positive effects of The Industrial Revolution on society. Living conditions, mass production, and public health of the working class were dismal at the start of the Industrial Revolution, but profound dynamic changes occurred creating positive outcomes at the end of the Industrial Revolution …show more content…
Before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of the working class occupied enjoyable, and sustainable homes in an agrarian, bucolic society. They had the opportunity to grow gardens, tend to their homes, raise animals, and socialize. The working class contributed to the capitalist system, they fashioned their own goods for their own use and made a profit on their merchandise through farming, weaving, blacksmithing, etc. However, in the first sixty years of the Industrial Revolution, the working class that held jobs in factories were forced to live in crowded and unsanitary tenements due to urbanization and low wages. After working long, tedious hours, factory workers had no energy or time for socializing, housekeeping, or producing goods for themselves. The most desperate working class citizens succumbed to “poorhouses”, which were set up by the government. This institution was similar to a prison; families were separated, the workers did not have any days off and the environment was harsh and depressing. This system was purposely designed to be inhumane, so that the inhabitants of the poorhouses would be discouraged from wanting to stay long term so as to not take advantage of the government. Living conditions slowly improved, and by the 1850's a new middle class was emerging with “white collar” jobs that included teachers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, …show more content…
Poorly constructed neighborhoods consisted of houses right next to each other without air flowing between them, muddy roads, no plumbing or sewage system, and a lack of planning for a hygienic system of living, which all contributed to a habitat conducive to disease. For instance, cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, and influenza were the most fatal epidemics during the Industrial Revolution. Cholera is a contagious bacterial disease occurring in the small intestine; this disease was one of the most fatal diseases due to it's ability to be transmitted through water. The disease spread like wildfire in 1849, because sewage was dumped on the streets and exposed to water sources like streams. First, seven thousand people died during an outbreak of cholera during 1831-1831 in London, and later on, ten thousand people died of cholera in three months in London. Another, epidemic was tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease that affects the lungs and is potentially serious. This disease massacred 60,000 to 70,000 lives during every decade of the 19th century. Close living quarters in poorly designed neighborhoods made the working class more susceptible to tuberculosis. Typhoid, another rampant disease in that time period is also a bacterial infection that is transmitted through contaminated water, food, or from
The industrial revolution had mainly negative effects. The industrial revolution was a time in world history that has technically never ended. It is the time when society started to mass produce goods in order to provide enough goods for the booming population. People started to move from villages to cities where factories were looking for workers. New medical advances were made and people began to live longer. While some might argue that industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of the increased amount of new and cheaper products, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were the dangerous and sometimes lethal work areas, poor living conditions and cramped housing,
Diseases like the Bubonic Plague can be very deadly and hurt the society. The Bubonic Plague was a very devastating disease in the mid 1300s. It lasted about 6 or 7 years, and killed nearly 50% of the European population.The disease was believed to have started in China and went down the European trade route. Also one theory is that enemy’s would catapult infected carcasses into other enemies villages. And people in the villages didn’t have anything to stop the disease from spreading so it would wipe out entire villages.(document 1)
The working class was known as the poor in the Victorian Era, struggling to stay alive as a result of their low income. This resulted in a sparse diet, ragged clothes, a limited education, and limits to what they could do in terms of literature, music, and theater. Also, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, finding work became more complicated as the working class population had increased putting many people into poverty. Consequently, the people of the working class labored constantly to not only keep their job but to pay for their family expenses.
There were many causes for these diseases. The living conditions that the majority were living in threatened their health. It was typical for many people to share their house with livestock- for example, an Italian family shares their kitchen with a chicken coop (Doc 7). Little did they know that insects infested animals, thus causing disease to spread easily. Drinking unclean water and eating unripened fruits and vegetables affected the health of the rural population, causing epidemics of diseases. Agricultural failure also led to the widespread of diseases. Because people were not getting a sufficient amount of food, they lacked nutrients, causing the population to be less resistant to disease. Diseases resulted in many deaths. For example, in southern France, La Valette’s population lost 64.3 percent of its people, which was more than half of the population (Doc 8). Subsequently, the epidemics wound up causing a serious damage to the rural
The uncertainty of the disease could be discovered through predictable patterns that made the polluting actions detectable for the invisible bacteria within the urban population of the London. In recent decades, England had experienced considerable urbanization. The poor lived in the section of cities that make unsanitary seem like a kind term. Disease and epidemics were much more prevalent in the area surrounded by the poor. The poor were frequently blamed for their living conditions and eventually the disease. So, it is important to have sanitation and cleanliness all over the places. For instance, today’s the nursing students. Pure air is the single most important focus for a nurse in caring for patients, eventually leads to the modern world’s facilities and advance technologies of ventilating rooms and evacuating sewers of vaporous matter. This may be helpful in reducing the disease spread and deaths. But it actually does help prevent the spread of the disease today. As we can see that the people’s average living age has been increase than what it was before because of the cure and
One of the worst diseases was the Bubonic Plague almost one third of the population were victim to it (Alchin 1). A shortage of sanitation was a hidden cause of Elizabethan illnesses notably in large towns and cities for instance
The Industrial Revolution began in England during the late 1700s, and by the end of its era, had created an enormous amount of both positive and negative effects on the world in social, economic, and even political ways. The revolution began to spread across the world, raising the standard of life for the populations in both Europe and North America throughout the 1800s. However, even with all of its obvious benefits, its downsides are nonnegotiable, forcing workers into horrendous living and working conditions, all inside of unkempt cities. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of the railroad system, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s
Poor sanitation, especially in the urban areas of London, contributed to the spread of disease in both cities and the countryside. The poor often had to deal with the problem of illness because they needed to remain healthy in order to continue to work. Subsequently, this resulted in a high demand for medical treatment, but Elizabethan medicine was not very advanced. As a result, people often could not survive after they contracted a disease. Perhaps the worst disease that plagued Elizabethan England was the plague, an often fatal disease that spread rapidly from person to person. In the year 1593, a single outbreak killed 15,000 people within the London area. Another disease, known as the “sweating sickness” was less common than the plague but deadlier, as a patient would perish within 24 hours after suffering from a high fever. Other prominent diseases included malaria, spread by mosquitoes; syphilis, transmitted sexually; and scurvy, caused by a lack of vegetable and fruit intake. A fatal, common disease found in the countryside would be smallpox (Andrew 1). Fast forward six hundred years, and we are at the age of technological advances. Scientists have produced vaccines that are able to prevent humans from contracting particular diseases that were once fatal during the Elizabethan age. Smallpox that was
Due to more crowded conditions, epidemic diseases spread extremely quickly during in Victorian England. The life expectancy in Surrey at the time was 45, while in London it was 47 (“Health and Hygiene”). One major problem was poor waste removal: increased urbanization led to an increased flow of sewage, which flowed into over 200,000 waste pits and eventually, the Thames, a major source of drinking water. Charles Dickens said “We pour it (the filth) into the rivers flowing through our towns, and pollute them as never before…” (Allingham). Polluted water led to cholera and typhoid, which at the time was thought to be caused by bad smells. Increasing pollution of the Thames led to the “Great Stink” of 1858, which not only stunk but caused rapid bacteria growth and thus rapid spread of disease (“Health and Hygiene”). However, cholera and typhoid were not the worst of the epidemics as they were typically limited to contaminated water and poorer neighborhoods; diseases such as tuberculosis, typhus, and influenza had no geographical barriers. E...
This was also the main reason the public health of England was in such a poor condition. For example, England’s streets and towns were a breeding ground for disease and germs.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change and increased efficiency. No more would be goods be produced by sole means of farming and agriculture, but now by the use of machinery and factories. Technology was beginning to increase along with the food supply as well as the population. However, this increase in population would greatly impact the social aspect of that time. Urbanization was becoming much more widespread. Cities were becoming overwhelmingly crowded and there was an increase in disease as well as harsh child labor. Although child labor would be reduced somewhat due to unions, the Industrial Revolution still contained both it’s positive and negative results.
c. Spread of other epidemics during this time period, including Cholera and Malaria, in 19th century due to unsanitary and unhygienic conditions.
The migration from rural settings to an urban setting was common throughout the country but mainly in London, which was prompted by the lack of work in rural areas, and the coming of the industrial age. People flocked to the cities with their farm animals (hence the term pigsty) and children in tow, and lived (animals too) upon each other in small rooms within tenements. The conditions were overcrowded and horrendous. As a direct result of the overcrowding slums and disease were rampant and afflicted only the poor who lived under such conditions. In comparison to other European cities of the day, however, the rate of people dying from disease was equal with other large metropolitan areas in Europe. The large migration of people to the city, disease, and the lack of a proper infrastructure to contend with masses, were all unique problems for the city and the city governments. Clearly some drastic measures were required to remedy the sanitation and overcrowding issues.
This lead to the environments of working class families being overcrowded, living conditions of such often led to unwholesome marriage, immorality, crime and unhealthy sanitation (Anon., n.d.). Industrialisation of Britain saw more and more cities being developed with back-to-back housing built in the smallest possible space, these houses were occupied by the working class that needed to be close to the factories for
The era labeled as the Industrial Revolution began in England during the late 1700s and spread to America between the 18th and 19th century. This period refers to a great increase of the output of machine goods, where farming methods were innovated, factors created, the textile industry transformed and transportation, economic policies and social structure were revolutionized. As some people may believe the Industrial revolution only had positive effects or only had negative effects, I believe it can be described as having “mixed blessings”. The positive effects of the industrial revolution would include the contribution to the nation's wealth, the creation of jobs for workers, the huge increase in production of goods, the improvement of standard living, the advance in technology, transportation and invention and the hope of improvement for people's lives.