1. Social Impact of IR Friday March 30 th 2012 Vocab: 1.Urbanization 2.Middle Class 3.Tenements 4.Luddites Guiding Questions 1.What were working conditions like? 2.What was life like for children?

2. Urbanization  The IR brought rapid urbanization—the movement of people to cities  Literally small towns became sprawling cities  Manchester England had 17,000 people in 1750 and in 1780 40,000 and in 1801 70,0000

3. New Social Classes  The IR created a middle class and a working class  Middle class owned and operated the new factories, mines, and railroads  More comfortable than the working class  Lived in well furnished, big homes on paved streets  Took pride in their work, little sympathy for the poor  Working class worked in mines or factories  Very difficult life, awful working conditions  Lived in Tenements—multistory building divided into apts No sewage or sanitation systems

4. Working Conditions  Labor unions were illegal at the time, but some secret unions existed  Tried to reform the workplace, but had no power  First industrial riots occurred in England from 1811 to 1813  Textile workers, known as the Luddites, resisted the labor-saving machines that were taking their jobs and would smash the machines in secret at night.  Workers faced horrible working conditions  Shifts were from 12 to 16 hours long, 6 or 7 days a week Lost lots of limbs to accidents with machines Most factory workers were women because they could pay them less

5. Miners and Children  Miners were paid more but the working conditions were far worse than factories,  Had to work in the dark, and dust destroyed their lungs Dangers of explosions, flooding and collapsing tunnels  Children were valuable workers in both the mines and factories  Most started working at 7  Small fingers were easier for machines  Small bodies could crawl under the machines  Many were forced to work in the mines  Child labor laws were passed in the early 1800’s to remove children under 8 but were not enforced