1. Social Effects Of and Responses to Industrialization

2. Population Increase
From 1750 to 1850, the population of the British Isles rose 200%
Most people found themselves in the new industrial cities of Lancashire and the Midlands
Manchester came to symbolize the problems of the new industrial city
Many migrants to the cities were driven by famine in Ireland or landlessness in the countryside

3. Working and Living Conditions
Initial factory conditions were deplorable
Worked 14 hours per day
Strict rules punished tardiness and fraternization among workers
Owners preferred children as laborers, as well as women

4. In coal mines and factories, laborers were exposed to toxic substances and particles
Workers found themselves living by a regimented schedule and subject of fatigue that could be deadly

5. Living conditions mirrored those of the workplace
City streets, housing and sewage disposal could not keep up
Cramped housing and diseases reduced life expectancies
Air and water pollution rendered breathing and drinking dangerous
Increase in crime, pollution, alcoholism, and family breakdown

6. The family was transformed from a unit of production to a unit of consumption
Mechanization of labor set the precedent for moving work from the home to a process managed by the owners of capital
Once Parliament passed legislation protecting women and children, family life further separated between productive men and domestic women

7. New Industrial Classes
The industrial middle class gained wealth and status from the profits of industry
The unskilled working class, or proletariat, were forced to sell their labor at a disadvantage
Industrial workers could exercise little influence on politics

8. Responses: Reform, Rebellion and Rejection
The responses to industrialization range from open acceptance to complete rejection
Many people recognized the obvious problems with industrialization but believed these evil side effects naturally attended all economic systems

9. Eventually problems became too pronounced for any but the most hardened capitalist to ignore
In 1832, Parliament appointed the Sadler Commission to investigate child labor in mines and factories
Parliament passed the Factory Acts of 1833

10. Edwin Chadwick highlighted the need for improved sewage and sanitary conditions in the crowded and polluted cities
Parliament responded with the Public Health Act of 1848

11. Workers voiced a more fundamental need for change
It became clear that as individuals, they could do little or nothing to change the system
To exert more collective power, laborers formed unions
Skilled engineers formed the first trade union in 1851 (Amalgamated Society of Engineers)

12. The more radical Grand National Consolidated Trade Union attempted to organize all industrial workers for strikes and labor agitation
The British government looked with hostility on efforts at worker organization

13. Many laborers favored more direct political activity
The Chartists employed petitions, mass meetings, and agitation to achieve universal male suffrage and the payment of salaries to Parliament

14. Luddhism
Represented and outright rejection of the principle of mechanization of labor
Planned the destruction of knitting frames and spinning devices they perceived as taking their skilled jobs
The British government crushed the movement by exiling or executing those involved