Ch. 7 Sec. 3-4

Social Impact of Industrial Revolution and Reform

Social Ills Poverty, dangerous working conditions,

unsafe, unsanitary and overcrowded housing

Urbanization - the movement of people to cities Air pollution from coal vapor Noise pollution from steam engines Water pollution from factory run-off, lack of

proper sewage disposal

New Middle Class Owners and operators separate from the

industrial working class (farmers out of their environment)

Benefit most from their entrepreneurship and came from a variety of backgrounds Skilled craftsmen, rags to riches

Lived well, little sympathy for the poor Women looked after their children

Rich had maids do it Poor put theirs to work

Working Class Lived in slums Packed into tenements (multi-story buildings divided

into apartments) No sewage or sanitation system, running water Led to spread of disease

Unions illegal Secret unions led to violence

Comfort in religion Movement called Methodism

• Personal benefits of faith, adopt sober, moral ways, rekindle hope, channel anger away from revolution

Factories and Mines

No variation, rigid schedule Labor hours - 12-16 hr. shifts, 6-7 days

Permission for breaks Exhaustion led to accidents

Unsafe conditions No safety devices Poor air quality

Factories and Mines Early preference for women

Better adapt to machines, handle easier, pay less Mine conditions were even worse

Coal dust, darkness, explosions, flooding and collapsing tunnels

Child labor As young as 7 Take advantage of size, in extremely dangerous conditions First reforms in early 1800s

• 12 hour days, nobody under 8 or 9• 1840s before first serious changes for workday and ed.

Reform Eventually reformers successfully achieved

legislation that improved working conditions (wages, hours, environment) Working class men gaining the right to vote improved

political power Laissez-faire economics

Adam Smith promotes helps everyone, not just the rich Thomas Malthus -population explosion

Population outpace food supply Reforms eventually prove wrong

Reform David Ricardo’s views on wages All three believed in the unrestricted laws of the

free market for poverty control (restricted government help for the poor)

Jeremy Bentham – utilitarianism (the goal of society should be the greatest happiness for the greatest number) Government should become involved in certain

circumstances (actions judged by their utility)

Reform John Stuart Mill – government should intervene

to prevent harm to citizens For example: abuse to workers Slowly accepted late 1800s, found in today’s

democratic governments

Others condemned the evils of capitalism Individual rights instead of good of society Gap between the rich and poor Radical solution………

Socialism

Community rather than private individuals own and operate the means of production Early socialists who established communities

were called Utopians, believed in goodness of human nature

• Robert Owen – New Lanark, Scotland

Karl Marx – scientific socialism (Utopians unrealistic) based on study of history

Communism Marx and Friedrich Engels teamed up to

write The Communist Manifesto Form of socialism created by class

struggle the haves and have-nots Beourgeoisie and Proletariat

Workers take control of the means of production and set up a classless society.

Reality Motivated a number of reform movements None exactly as Marx imagined

Social democracy in Germany Russian revolution – Communist government 1900s African and Latin American revolutions

turned to Marxist ideas Nationalism won out over working-class

loyalty