THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

                                         

           
 The industrial revolution is defined as the period between the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The period started with the first cotton mill in 1733 in England. England wanted to keep its industrialization a secret. Samuel Slater was a famous and important name in these years. Samuel Slater was an early English-American industrialist known as the father of the American Industrial Revolution and the father of the American Factory System. In the UK, he was called ‘’Slater the Traitor’’ because he brought British textile technology to America.Although the industrial revolution is seen as appealing to many people, there are advantages as well as disadvantages.

The industrial revolution marked a major turning point in the Earth’s ecology and people’s relationship with their environment. The industrial revolution dramatically changed every aspect of human life and lifestyles when machinery began to replace manual labor. Fossil fuels replaced wind, water and wood and were used for the manufacture of textiles and the development of the iron making process. The full impact of the industrial revolution would not begin to be realized until about 100 years later in the 1800s when the use of machines to replace human labor spread throughout Europe and North America. This transformation is referred to as the industrialization of the world. This process gave  rise to sweeping increases in production capacity and would affect all basic human needs, including food production, medicine, housing, and clothing. Not only did society develop the ability to have more things faster, but also it would be able to develop better things. That process of industrialization  continues today. There have been movements and periods in history which have proved to be important milestones leaving their mark on the years to come and forever changing the social, economic and cultural landscape. Some were religious in nature like The Reformation; some were artistic and philosophical like The Renaissance; yet others were economic like The Industrial Revolution. The former two movements have been widely studied but the latter is often overlooked. In fact, this movement which started with the invention of the spinning jenny and continued to impact all areas of business and social life throughout the 18^th and the 19^th centuries had some far reaching consequences.

There is a wide discussion in many parts of the world as to the effects of the Industrial Revolution. It is clear that working conditions, living conditions, urbanization, public health, and life expectancy, child labor, working-class families and the role of women, the emerging middle class, wealth and income are important effects in this period. Actually, there remains some disagreement as to how life for the average industrial worker was forever changed by bringing wealth and power to Great Britain throughout the 19^th century. Therefore,  the effects of industrialization on society and on daily living in a new industrial city should be explored.

            Firstly, in terms of working conditions, workers made up 80% of society and landowners were enclosing common village lands since the population was increasing in Great Britain. Besides, having no bargaining power to demand higher wages, fairer work hours, or better working conditions meant that working life was very tough for the workers of that period. In addition, there is a big problem: lack of medical attention due to the fact that injured workers would typically lose their jobs and  receive no financial compensation for their injury to pay for much-needed health care. It is clear that the government should have intervened in the free market to improve working conditions and workers should  not have been forced to work. That is to say, the government should have established a commission to investigate working conditions in the new factories and mills. If there are unsafe conditions, it is the government’s responsibility to look out for the safety of its citizens and set minimum safety standards.

            Secondly, in terms of living conditions, working in new industrial cities had an effect on people’s lives outsides of the factories as well. But it is an undeniable fact that during the first sixty years of the Industrial Revolution, living conditions were, by far, the worst for the poorest of the poor. Obviously, cities should have become places with opportunities for sport and entertainment.  It is the duty of the government in any welfare state to provide legislation to ensure that the living conditions of the working class are improved. This was not done during the 19^th century as the modern welfare state had yet to be established. Instead it was believed that the  government should intervene as little as possible to improve living conditions for the working class. After all, if the government gave handouts to the poor, there would be no incentive for them to find work on their own.

            Thirdly, in terms of urbanization, this period witnessed  the rise of cities. In pre-industrial society, over 80% of people lived in rural areas. As migrants moved from the countryside, small towns became large cities. As a result, working-class neighborhoods were formed and they were  bleak, crowded, dirty, and polluted. It was believed at the time that the government should not intervene in the free market to regulate industrial pollution or the filth in working-class neighborhoods. In fact, the government should have established a commission to investigate the negative effects of industrialization on urban life.

            Fourthly, in terms of public health and life expectancy, in the first half of the 19^th century, urban overcrowding, poor diets, poor sanitation, and essentially medieval medical remedies all contributed to very poor public health for the majority of British people. In addition, drinking water resources, such as wells, were frequently contaminated with diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, and influenza. Unfortunately, it is true that in 1849, ten thousand people died of cholera in three months in London alone. Poor nutrition, disease, lack of sanitation, and harmful medical care in these urban areas had a devastating effect on the average life expectancy of British people in the first half of the 19^th century. It was believed that, the government should not intervene in the free market to improve public health. Citizens, it was felt, should be  free to hire a doctor, go to a hospital, or seek their own medical remedies, as they had been doing for centuries. The government, it was thought, had not been and should not be in the business of building houses for poor people.

            Fifthly, in terms of child labor, unfortunately, child labor was integral to the first factories, mines, and mills in England. The tedious and dangerous factory work had negative effects on the health of children. There is one fundamental question: Why was child labor used? Generally, as regards the causes of this, it is claimed that child employees are better than adults due to the fact that they are more obedient and child labor is cheap. What is more, most people believed that these impacts were expected to intensify in the following decades and unfortunately they were right because child labor is still a big problem in the modern world, in the twenty-first century, according to research carried out by international survey companies, especially in Southeastern Asia.

            Sixthly, in terms of classes, it is an undeniable fact that middle classes or ‘’ middling sort’’ emerged in industrial cities, mostly toward the end of 19^th century. The society consisted of aristocrats born into their lives of wealth and privilege, and low-income people born into the working classes. Besides, ‘’white collar’’ workers  such as business people, shopkeepers, bank clerks, insurance agents, merchants, accountants, managers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers emerged. However, it was believed that the government should not intervene in the private family lives of its citizens. The middle class it was felt, was doing fine. In fact the government should invest in the public school system to educate its citizens and encourage the continued rise of the middle class.

By way of conclusion, the obvious conclusion to be drawn from all of these points that have been explained so far is that the industrial revolution has had lots of detrimental effects, what is more, the detrimental effects of the industrial revolution are still going on constantly. Due to this reason, precautions should be taken to minimize them. No matter what happens, nothing is more important than human life so it should be given due importance and it should not be endangered, that is to say, living properly is the most important thing for people in the world. In other words, to put it differently, the revolution led to negative results i.e. the social impacts of the industrial revolution in cities brought poverty and harsh living conditions. There is one proverb about this issue: ‘’stood on the shoulders of giants’’. It is not wrong to say that the revolution played an important role in rapid urbanization.

KUBİLAY ESER