The Beginning of the Modern Era; Its Benefits and Disadvantages
From the years of 1750-1830, the Industrial Revolution was a large part of the Great Britain’s culture. It brought many changes to the world in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology. Although it began in Great Britain, it subsequently spread throughout Western Europe, North America, Japan, and later on, the rest of the world. Even though the Industrial Revolution brought many negative changes to society at the time such as child labor, in the long run, it advanced our world into the thriving civilization it is today.
Despite some of the positive effects like the birth of new technology, the Industrial Revolution still brought many negative developments. One of these would include the conditions in the factories. Workers in the factories had to put in 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week. While they worked, they had to endure 80-degree heat and machines that needed constant attention. The factory conditions were also extremely dirty. The laborers could contract many diseases from the filthy environment and from the close quarters they shared with other people. Workers were also in a constant fear of losing limbs from unguarded machines. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they were paid very little for their hard labor. Depending on the person, one would either be paid 10-15 shillings a week (men), 5 shillings a week (women), or 1 shilling a week (children). Even back then this was very hard to live on. Which leads to another bad outcome: child labor. Because factories needed workers, and children were very cheap, they were hired all the time. Unfortunately, with so many children in the workforce, they could not be supervised properly and many children were injured and fell sick. Yet another terrible outcome of the Industrial Revolution was from urbanization. One might also think this was good, but in this case, it led to many different problems. One problem was overpopulation. Due to rapid increase of industry, many people flocked
Despite some of the positive effects like the birth of new technology, the Industrial Revolution still brought many negative developments. One of these would include the conditions in the factories. Workers in the factories had to put in 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week. While they worked, they had to endure 80-degree heat and machines that needed constant attention. The factory conditions were also extremely dirty. The laborers could contract many diseases from the filthy environment and from the close quarters they shared with other people. Workers were also in a constant fear of losing limbs from unguarded machines. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they were paid very little for their hard labor. Depending on the person, one would either be paid 10-15 shillings a week (men), 5 shillings a week (women), or 1 shilling a week (children). Even back then this was very hard to live on. Which leads to another bad outcome: child labor. Because factories needed workers, and children were very cheap, they were hired all the time. Unfortunately, with so many children in the workforce, they could not be supervised properly and many children were injured and fell sick. Yet another terrible outcome of the Industrial Revolution was from urbanization. One might also think this was good, but in this case, it led to many different problems. One problem was overpopulation. Due to rapid increase of industry, many people flocked