Industrial Revolution: Encyclopedia II - Industrial Revolution - Social problems

Industrial Revolution - Social problems

The industrial revolution led to a number of social problems within the newly developed working class. Children worked under miserable conditions and the families lived in bad housing.

Industrial Revolution - Child labour

Child labour existed before the Industrial Revolution, and in fact dates back to prehistoric times, but during the Industrial Revolution it grew far more abusive than ever before.[1] Politicians tried to limit child labour by law. Factory owners resisted -- they felt that they were aiding the poor by giving their children work from the age of five years onward. In 1833 the first law against child labour, the Factory Act of 1833, was passed in England: Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, children were not permitted to work at night and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. Factory inspectors supervised the execution of this law. About ten years later, the employment of children and women in mining was forbidden. These laws improved the situation; however child labour remained a problem in Europe up to the 20th century.

Industrial Revolution - Housing situation

In 1832 James Phillips Kay, an Edinburgh doctor, published a detailed report on the working conditions of the poor and describes worker's housing establishments as follows:

In 1842 a Sanitary Report was produced by Edwin Chadwick:

Industrial Revolution - Luddites

The rapid industrialization of the English economy cost many craft workers their jobs. The textile industry in particular industrialized early, and many weavers found themselves suddenly unemployed since they could no longer compete with machines which only required relatively limited (and unskilled) labour to produce more cloth than a single weaver. Many such unemployed workers, weavers and others, turned their animousity towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery. These attackers became known as Luddites, supposedly followers of Ned Ludd, a folklore figure. The first attacks of the Luddite movement began in 1811. The Luddites rapidly gained popularity, and the British government had to take drastic measures to protect industry.

Industrial Revolution - Organisation of labour

Conditions for the working class were so bad during the industrial revolution, unions were formed to help protect the rights of the working man. The main method the unions used to effect change was strike action. Strikes were painful events for both sides, the unions and the management. The management was upset because strikes took their precious working force away for a large period of time, and the unions had to deal with riot police and various middle class prejudices that striking workers were the same as criminals, as well as loss of income. The strikes often led to violent and bloody clashes between police and workers. Factory managers usually reluctantly gave in to various demands made by strikers, but the conflict was generally long.

In England the Combination Act forbade workers to form any kind of trade union from 1799 until its repeal in 1824. After this unions were still severely restricted.

In 1842 Cotton Workers in England staged a widespread strike.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Social problems", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki