Industrial Revolution Essay

In the second half of the eighteenth century, European economy commenced to gradually industrialize. This development, significantly more than any other, differentiated the West from other civilizations for centuries to come. The economic development, known as the European Industrial Revolution, resulted in a stable economic growth, despite major faults in factory owner’s executions or depressions. One criticized aspect of the revolution is the working conditions, famous for it’s harsh nature. The labor force adopted the “rigorous discipline exercised by the new industrial capitalists,” which proved to be traumatic, dangerous, and strict. As a response to the working conditions, reform groups, differing in approach, were formed such as trade unions, the Luddites, and the Chartists, however despite their efforts, very little was succeeded in ameliorating the conditions.
Solely concerned with the economic standings of the factory, industrial capitalists enforced strict conditions on their labor force: men, women and children. Threatened by fines or unemployment, workers were obliged to abide by the tiring work hours from “6 A.M. precisely,” to “nine at night,” with a total of two hours of break for meals. Incapable of making decisions by themselves as “no workman…may leave before the end of the working day, without having first received permission from the overseer and having given his name to the gatekeeper,” workers lacked the rights they were once accustomed to while previously working on the farms, making the transition to industrialization “traumatic.” Factory owners went to the extent of fining employees for matters such as washing their faces and hands in the workshop. Similarly, children were subject to the “fourteen...

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...cs to accomplish the means of reforming the conditions, they failed to largely succeed. Fortunately, efforts to improve the conditions of the industrial factory system began to stem from the outskirts of the working class; reform-minded individuals in Parliament began to advocate against it. Eventually, Parliament took the working force into consideration, especially children, passing a legislation in 1833: requiring children ages nine to thirteen to have two or more hours of education, the Coal Mines Act in 1842: eliminated the service of boys under ten and women in mines, and Ten Hours Act in 1847: limiting the working hours for children and women. Overall, the work of the reform groups were not successful, however, the workforce’s consciousness and constant attention on their exploitation lead to legislations being passed to ameliorate the working conditions.