Answer:
The Industrial Revolution created a great deal of change in society.
One major change was the shift from work being done at home by
hand in cottage industries to work being done in factories. There
were harsh and unsafe working conditions in these early factories.
The machines posed a significant threat to workers’ lives. Even more
deadly was work performed in coal mines. Owners of mines and
factories had considerable control over the lives of laborers who
worked long hours for low pay. An average worker would work 14
hours a day, six days a week. Fearful of losing their jobs, workers
would typically not complain about the horrible conditions and low
pay. Owners realized that they could pay women and children less
than men. Child labor increased because it kept the costs of
production low and the profits high. As a result, the working class
lived in poverty, while the bosses who made up the middle class
grew wealthy.
The Industrial Revolution had many positive effects. Among
those was an increase in wealth, the production of goods, and
the standard of living. People had access to healthier diets,
better housing, and cheaper goods. In addition, education
increased during the Industrial Revolution. Due in part to the
Edward Jenner’s invention of the smallpox vaccine and Louis
Pasteur’s discovery of bacteria, health care increased, and people began to live longer. The middle and upper classes
benefited immediately from the Industrial Revolution. For workers, it took much longer. However during the 1800s,
workers formed labor unions and gained higher wages and better working conditions. As a result, they began to see
the benefits of the Industrial Revolution as well.
