Social Impact and Effect

During the Industrial Revolution, city life changed dramatically.  In the beginning, people from the country began to flock to a more urban environment.  Cities boomed in only a few days, and the positive and negative effects of this change were seen very rapidly.  

Negative Effects:

            City crowding soon became a serious problem.  An obvious division rose between wealthy, middle, and lower classes of the population.  While the first two classes lived in relative comfort and nice homes, the poor lower class was subjected to “foul smelling slums” (Ellis and Esler).  Many lived in tenements in very crowded conditions. In most cases, there were no facilities, running water, or proper waste management.

            Because of the indecent living conditions and crowding, other problems soon became prevalent. Diseases like cholera quickly spread from one person to the next, killing many. Crime ran rampant throughout the cities unchecked. Sewage and waste was left out on the streets. All of these were results of city crowding

            People flocked to the cities because they needed jobs, which were easy to find in the many factories. Factory jobs, however, also were first very strenuous and created problems. The factory system required that its workers work twelve to sixteen hour days, six days a week. Machines had no safety guards and were therefore the cause of a great many accidents. When a worker was injured, they were simply let go—there was no workman compensation or payment for injury.  Wages were terribly low.  Most of the time, all of the family had to work all week to make enough money to live on.  Child labor was all to common.  Children left their education behind to help support the family, and along with women, they recieved much lower wages than the men did.  Also, these factories created an unpleasant environment for those living in the cities.  The work in the factories could be heard all over and the smoke of the factory chimneys hung like a cloud over city. 

            During the Industrial Revolution, many changes come to peoples lives.  As previously stated, many were negative.  As the Revolution progressed, however, changes began to be made for the better.  "Reformers pressed for laws to improve working conditions" (Ellis and Esler).  The government finally responed to the demands and began to regulate the workers conditions.  Also, Labor unions were organized by the workers to defend and create better working conditions like wages and work hours.  Finally, workers gained the right to vote and therefore were able to gain political power.