Assess the Socio-Political Consequences of the Process of Industrialization in Europe - Report Example

Assess the socio-political consequences of the process of industrialization in Europe Assess the socio-political consequences of the process of industrialization in Europe Introduction The Industrial Revolution took place first in Britain in the 18th century. Before the Industrial Revolution, the European lives were tied to agriculture, clothing and other resources. Many people made items for their own use. However, during the growth of cottage industries homemade products were sold to other people. The work was done by hand, and thereby the process was laborious and slow. Industrial Revolution resulted in various changes in the social and economic sectors. These changes replaced process of production by use of machinery. The use of machinery not only replaced hand labor but also increased the concentration of production in the industries1 . The machinery was driven by steam, which played a major role in the industrial growth. In addition, the Industrial Revolution resulted to the rise in social and geographical changes. It also led to the emergence of social classes like upper class, middle class, and the working class. Moreover, cities, roads and rails were growing rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. Development of cities Industrial Revolution led to diminishing of villages to the growth of cities. There was an improvement of standard of life in the big cities as well as some small towns. Development was linked with the growth of trade in Europe and the overseas colonies. The new cities had more emphasis on hygiene and space, the congested houses of the older centers became out of date. Besides the improvement of housing, the numbers of inhabitants were also increasing. This extraordinary increase had several reasons. The rapid growth of industries provided employment to children encouraged the poor families to increase in numbers. This resulted to increase of migration from rural to urban concentrating the workers to small and overcrowded houses. The numbers of birth increased with the advancement of medical science progresses leading to the reduction in mortality rates. Social structures The increase of material growth marked the nature of the European society. There were several changes including the factory owners made factory rules and policies, introduction of the permanent shop to sell more products or workers in the factory learning about production. The people in this period had to cope with new systems of work, emergence of new trade and new working hours. The social hierarchy also stretched. Prior to industrialization, the highest social status of the society was the landowners. This can be compared to a weak middle class who were followed by traders, lawyers, and churchmen. During the Industrial Revolution, the number of middle class increased and began to compete for property and power2. The powerful members of this class included the factory and mine owners, bankers and merchants. The rich people in the middle class were equipping estates and castles in luxurious ways and did sports such as racing and yachting. The middle class held the mode of customs. Moreover, there was a new social group, namely the workpeople. It was the lowest group in the social structure, because of use of machinery in factories, the work by hand had reduced. The wealth was unevenly distributed, and the nature of taxation systems, the living standards in the middle and to social class grew faster that at lower class. In addition, the capitalist farmers rented most of the lands. Many people were isolated out of their life in the village to the urban areas; they changed jobs, habits and friends. They started to work in the factories that were owned by the wealthy capitalist. Population growth The growth of the industrial societies enabled more children to live because of advancement in the medical sciences. The increase in population in Europe was faster than other countries overseas. This is because the death rates reduced very quickly, thus mortality rate. At the same time, the birth rose due to more marriages. Moreover, within the marriage set up the birth rates also increased in some places. However, the most important point is the birth rate did not fall to compensate the decreased death rates. The reasons include changes in social values and habits keeping people away from contraceptives, increase the ability to sustain life increased demand for children and fall in mortality did not stimulate changes in behaviors. Economic improvements helped people live longer because they could afford better diets. Research indicates the slow growth of population before Industrial Revolution was because of lack of food and the rapid increase resulted from proper nutrition3 . Reduction in chronic malnutrition was evident in Britain and France, which resulted in the initial improvement of the population growth. Economic developments also helped people to live longer because of improved environments. Some of these improvements include medical advancement like the use of vaccination. Such advances in the medical field have been attributed to the Industrial Revolution. The health environments also improved due to changes of the physical infrastructures in the society such as the provision of clean drinking water. These changes improved people’s health and reduced deaths. Building such infrastructures require the population to be large enough for economic purposes. Construction of roads and communication system increased health technology. This is still relevant today; people from rich countries live longer people from poor countries, the factors indicated. Finally, the set of events at Industrial Revolution enabled the society to reduce the occurrence of mass starvation4 . Moreover, the people had the tools to yield enough food so that there was a margin of safety in case of bad harvest. Good transport infrastructures enabled the harvest to be sold at fair prices to areas with poor harvests. Specialization and division of labor During Industrial Revolution, more craft industries had already developed trade. For example, most of the people were spinner and weavers were the tradesmen. The weavers could also produce excellent clothes, which was good quality. However, during Industrial Revolution these methods of production changed as most of the work done by hand was transferred to automated mechanisms driven by power-driven machines5. In the end, cottage industries were replaced by mechanical production. These changes also had a lot of impact on the products of the new industry and producers. The products acquired distinctive characters. The workers were also given work depending on their skills. These increased quality and improved productions. Nevertheless, women and children were used as a source of labor for jobs that required unskilled labor. Labor for women and children After the expansion of industries and mines, the need for the number of employees who could be paid less salaries also increased. Therefore, women and children became the ideal factory, mines and mills workers. The children did not have high levels of education, thereby could not complain about the small payments6. Although, they worked prior to the Industrial Revolution, they were concentrated in the fields and home workshops. The high percentage of the workforce was men; however, women and children played an important role during this period. Most were working in the textile industries, where the children worked as sweepers and binders. Some of the children as worked in the mines. The reasons child labour was easily available is because the school was not compulsory during the nineteenth century7. In addition, most schools were very expensive for the working class to afford it. The age, numbers of working hours were also not restricted by the employees. The children received small amount of money compared to the adult men, however, this money could give a little help to the family budget. Most families were willing to send their families to work in the factories. In addition, children and men did not work attractive positions. This is because a majority were unskilled, thereby underpaid. Positions such as supervisors were carried out only by men. Although women were not allowed to have leading roles, not all of them worked in the industries. Some worked as maid for the rich families or take care of their children. One of the major positive consequences of Industrial Revolution was its contribution to the liberation of women. Poor working conditions The workers were required to obey the factory rules in order to maximum utilize the capacities of machinery8. Despite the rapid growth of industries, the numbers of inhabitants were rapidly growing. Therefore, the factories were ensured of continuous production. The speed of working increased as the demand increased. The spinner machines, which were used during Industrial Revolution, could only be spinned by strong men. Most of the workers were overworked. The workers lived in a separate place away from the factory. The factory owner could carefully supervise over the workers quality, and if something go wrong, their wages could be reduced. In addition, the workers could be physically punished including the children. Conclusion Industrial Revolution was about growth and expansion. This is the positive impacts of Industrial Revolution. There was infrastructure development including transport, and communication system that eased trade. Moreover, improved food production increasing the standards of living. However, it also had negative consequences. The working conditions of workers were poor, most of them were overworked and strict penalties were imposed for failure to meet the set standards such as wage reduction and physical punishments. In addition, work was done by women and even children, and was poorly paid. Even though they were part of the huge development most of the profits was enjoyed by the rich. Bibliography Andrew Atkeson and Patrick J. Kehoe. ₺The Transition to a New Economy After the Second Industrial Revolution.₺ NBER Working4 no. 47(2001):76-87. Austin Freeman. ₺Some ethical consequences of the industrial revolution.₺ International journal of ethics 5 no.19 (1923): 347-370. Charles I. Jone. ₺Was an Industrial Revolution Inevitable?Economic Growth Over the Very Long Run.₺ NBER Working 40 no.10 (1999):74-89. Charles F. Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin. ₺History World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization.₺.Journal of Interdisciplinary History 30 no.2 (1999):308-311. Sheilagh C. Ogilvie. ₺Proto-industrialization in Europe.₺ Continuity and Change 8 no.2 (1993):159 – 179. Simon, J Simom. ₺Demographic Causes and Consequences of the Industrial Revolution.₺ Journal of European Economic 23 no.1 (1994):141-159. Read More