What was the Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution ?

Population Growth and Urbanisation Population rose by around a third between these years Rural-urban drift as new machines in the Agrarian revolution cause widespread rural unemployment Massive growth of towns in industrial areas near to source of power – the coal fields Sudden and unplanned development of towns created massive social problems

Social problems in Towns Loss of traditional way of life, rhythm of the day, religion, moral compass and extended family Pollution appalling especially in poorer quarters near to factories, noise, regulated work to the speed of the machine, continuous factory line production – all a rude shock when compared to rural domestic systems which preceded it Lack of welfare – no pensions and no benefits resulted in starvation, hardship and associated problems such as crime, prostitution and alcoholism Lack of even basic sanitation and health care pushed life expectancy in the towns back to medieval levels and below Lack of safety or planning regulations resulted in massive increase in accidents, deaths and injuries at work

Social Problems Contd. Social problems made worse by ‘laissez faire’ attitudes from government The worst housing completely unplanned and unregulated in centres for the poorer workers – slums, doss houses and back to back terraces – no water, drainage, sewerage disposal directly causes cholera and typhoid epidemics of the mid century. Better housing for skilled workers on the periphery – new middle class factory owners segregated from social problems in the leafy suburbs Government in London geographically isolated from social problems of Northern towns

Workplaces No regulation on pay or hours so 16 hour day common (more in the coal mines) Trade Unions illegal (Combination Acts) Women and children employed as very cheap, docile workers Children frequently employed to clean moving machinery and crawl down passages in coal mines Frequent deaths and injuries at work – especially in the mines

Education No state education. Very high illiteracy levels Ruling class opposed the education of the poor for fear they would get ideas ‘above themselves’ Sunday Schools encouraged as religious message was a agent of social control – ‘the opium of the people’ Many working class children got seem basic education at Sunday School but not compulsory and severely limited State elementary education not until 1875 and secondary not until 1944 Religion and charity take a large role in providing what little education was offered the poor

Welfare No benefit system – just the workhouse from 1834 Periods of unemployment meant hunger, rising crime, begging, prostitution When a worker was too ill or too old to work the future was particularly bleak as family ties had also been disrupted by Industrial revolution

Emigration/Immigration Significant emigration from Britain from 1815 to British colonies in search of a better life Significant immigration from Russia and Eastern Europe of Jewish refugees escaping anti Semitism in Russia Significant Irish immigration to England 9especially Liverpool and North west) after the potato famine

Politics Social changes reflected in mainstream political parties – Whigs become the party of the new middle class – Tories under Peel attempt to appeal to newly enfranchised Middle class after 1832 Social problems prompt working class protest – machine smashing, riots, disorder, conspiracies – developing into Trade unionism and Chartism as the century progressed

Positive Benefits of Industrial Revolution Massive increase in wealth of a new class, of factory owners, bankers, merchants, traders etc. Britain became ‘the workshop of the world’ and the richest economy on earth BUT these benefits not shared with the bulk of the population who lived in by modern standards desperate conditions well into the 20 th century