The Socio-Economics of the Industrial Revolution and Its Effects on the American Economy

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In 1750, during the Industrial Revolution, over fourteen percent of the workforce in factories consisted of workers under fourteen years old (History.com Staff 9). With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the social classes of America shifted tremendously. This shift of classes came from the arrival of machinery and factories from Britain. The new type of workforce that was required from industrialization gradually created a large gap of extremely wealthy people and poorer workers (the majority). This large gap of social classes would stand to cause a great economic growth in America, predominantly at the expense of the lower social classes. Social classes were shifted very abruptly during the Industrial Revolution due to the increase of capitalizing on industry and manufacturers, the specialization of work tasks in manufacturing, the need for smaller and more finesse-based workers, and other factors, which in turn would ultimately benefit the American economy (however, at the expense of the lower classes).
The first reason why a large social gap was created was due to a great increase of individuals, mostly rich, white males, who capitalized on the industry and on manufacturers. These individuals invested their wealth into factories, and owned them. These factory owners were typically, if not always wealthy, due to their taking advantage of factory workers, and the factory’s high output of product (therefore resulting in a high input of income). Factory workers were typically paid very cheaply for the benefit of the factory owner (Bragdon et. al. 318). Furthermore, because mass-produced goods were being created at an astounding rate, consumption from consumers skyrocketed, further increasing the income of the wealthy factor...

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...conomically, it facilitated American’s growth as a major nation.

Works Cited

Bragdon, Henry, Samuel McCutchen, Donald Ritchie. History of a Free Nation.
Westerville: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985. Print.
Ferguson, Niall. The Ascent of Money. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008. Print.
History.com Staff. "Industrial Revolution." History.com. 22 Mar 2014: n. page. Web. 18
Mar. 2014.
Rosen, William. The Most Powerful Idea in the World. New York: Random House, 2010.
Print.
Skwirk Staff. "The Role of Men and Women." Year 9 ACT (2014): n.pag. Skwirk. Web.
21 Mar 2014.
"The Industrial Revolution, 1700-1900." DISCovering World History. 1997 Student
Resource Center. Framington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group. Online Database. ushistory.org, . "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution." U.S. History
Online Textbook (2014): n.pag. ushistory. Web. 23 Mar 2014.

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