Industrial

revolution part 2
Social Impact & the Second Industrial Revolution
Where we left off…
 Spread of
industrialism
•  Britain 1st to industrialize

•  Soon followed by Belgium,

France, Germany, USA,
Japan.

•  By mid 1800’s Western

Europe industrialized.
•  Southern and Eastern
Europe not industrialized.
•  They supply raw materials to
industrialized nations.
 Video

•  Industrial Revolution video

Social Impact
 Urbanization
•  Shift from rural (agricultural)
living to urban (city).

•  Crowded tenement buildings

•  Rapid pollution:
•  Air
•  Open sewage
•  Garbage

•  Most houses no running

water, or sewer system

•  Poverty, overcrowding breeds

crime & gangs
Cholera Clip
Working conditions
•  Long working hours 12-16
hours a day/ 6-7 days a week

•  Work often physically harsh,

unsafe, & unhealthy

•  Workers often abused by

factory owners/foremen
•  Especially women and
children.
•  Can’t fight back or you’re
fired!

•  Women, children often

employed over men because
they can be paid less & fit in
smaller spaces.
 Living conditions
•  Many live in company
housing, buy company
supplies.
•  Means they are always in
debt to the company

•  Apartments small, dirty,

unhealthy

•  Family unit breaks down

•  Sharp increase in
depression, suicide, insanity
Class structure
•  Rise of middle class!

•  Upper class=aristocracy,
those with lots of money

•  Middle class=new class

•  Merchants, bankers,
teachers, skilled laborers,
shop owners.
•  They try to copy the upper
class. Ignore lower class.

•  Lower class: laborers,

factory workers, farm labor,
servants
 Workers rights
•  1800-1840’s

•  Workers have no rights

•  Many workers indentured

•  They sign contract for a year,
can’t leave job.
•  Become basically slaves.

•  No unemployment or
disability
 Discussion Question

•  Do you think the benefits of the Industrial Revolution

outweighed the negative social aspects? (is new
technology and better ways of living more important
than people’s health/well being)?

•  Defend your answer.

Economic ideas &
social reform
 capitalism
•  Capitalism:
•  A system in which a countries
trade and industry are
controlled by private owners
for profit, rather than by the
state.

•  Entrepreneur:
•  A person interested in finding
new business opportunities
and new ways to make profits.

•  Entrepreneur’s invested
money into new businesses/
inventions of Ind. Rev. –They
helped it grow!
Capitalist thinkers
•  Adam Smith-Wealth of
Nations
•  Laissez-faire=govt. keeps
hands off of business
•  Invisible hand=supply and
demand will regulate
industry and business.
•  Father of modern capitalism

•  David Ricardo-Essay on
Iron Wages
•  Iron Law of Wages
 socialism
•  Socialism:
•  A system in which society, usually
in the form of the government,
owns and controls the means of
production.

•  Goal=socialist utopia where

everyone works together for the
common good, no one has an
advantage over anyone else.

•  A response to the rapid changes

of the Ind. Revolution.

•  Seen as a way to bridge the gap

between rich and poor
Karl Marx
•  Karl Marx (1818-1883)

•  German philosopher who

wrote the Communist
Manifesto.

•  All of history is a class

struggle between the rich
“haves” (bourgeois) and the
“have not” workers/laborers
(proletariat).
•  Proletariat=working class.

•  Revolution by the proletariat

needed to overthrow the
bourgeois and bring about a
classless society.
 Labor unions
•  Labor Union:
•  An organized association of workers,
often in a trade or profession, formed to
protect and further their rights and
interests.

•  Early in the Ind. Rev. no labor

organizations or unions.
•  Many were forbidden by law because
they are seen as dangerous. Too many
ties to socialism.
•  However, many unions formed despite
this to fight for better conditions & they
became very popular by late 1800’s.

•  Early labor unions fought for:

•  Better working conditions
•  Fair wages
•  Stop or lessening of child labor
•  Reasonable hours
 reforms
•  1833-1847 Factory Acts
•  Laws begin to be passed to protect
workers.
•  Children under 9 can’t work
•  Mine acts help eliminate abuse,
improve conditions
•  10 hour act eventually limits all
workers to 10 hour days.

•  1830-1870’s Education Acts

•  Establish public schools

•  Other Reforms
•  Improve living conditions
•  Labor unions become legal
•  Govt. creates welfare workhouses
for poor.
 Discussion Question

•  Do you think socialism is a viable (workable) option in

today’s society? Why or why not?
Second industrial
revolution
 Second industrial
revolution
•  1870-1914

•  1st Industrial Revolution=

textiles, iron, coal.

•  2nd Industrial Revolution=

steel, chemicals, electricity,
gas, communication,
transportation
Improved Techniques
•  Assembly line perfected.

•  Mass production: the

production of large
quantities of goods using
machinery and often on an
assembly line.

•  Increases efficiency

•  Lowers costs of goods

•  More people can buy goods.

New technologies
•  Electricity
•  Light bulb, generators, replace
steam power

•  Gas powered engines

•  Automobiles, gas powered
machines, planes

•  Steel
•  Railroads, skyscrapers,
bridges, trolleys

•  Dynamite

•  Hundreds of new chemicals

•  Aspirin, new medicines,
perfumes, soaps, fertilizers
Communication
•  Telegraph-1844

•  Trans-Atlantic telegraph
cable-1860’s

•  Telephone-1876

•  Radio-1890’s

•  People can now

communicate faster than
ever before!
•  Share ideas, news, all over
the world, quickly.
 Discussion question

•  According to the picture below, we are in the middle of

the 4th industrial revolution (artificial intelligence,
smart technology). How did the past revolutions lead
to our current situation?
 improvements
•  Standard of living
improves.
•  People living and eating
better.
•  Children are getting
educated.
•  New medicines, improved
health care= longer life
spans.

•  Cities improved
•  New roads, sewer systems,
water systems.