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Summary Social And Political Consequences Of Industrialization in 19th century
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Social and Political Consequences Of Industrialization.As early as 1798, the English economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
wrote an essay entitled "The Principles of Population" in which he predicted
widespread famine because the population seemed to grow at a geometric rate (2,
4, 8, 16 ), food production increased only at an arithmetic rate (2, 4, 6, 8). Malthus
and many others feared that the population would quickly exceed England's
capacity to produce enough food to feed the millions of new people. Malthus
accused the lower classes of having too many children and proposed passing laws
limiting the number of children people were allowed to have. Although the
catastrophe Malthus predicted never materialized (partly because agricultural
productivity increased enormously, partly because population growth slowed), his
views were widely accepted at the time, particularly his conclusion that which the
poor were responsible for the profound societal changes that accompanied the
industrial revolution. . The increase in population cannot be attributed to
industrialization, but industrialization certainly contributed to the effects of
England's transition from a rural agricultural society to an urban industrial society
during the 19th century. These social changes have had several causes and
consequences:
,The consolidation of agricultural land following the fencing movement, in which
wealthy aristocrats demanded the government to own land once shared by
communities, pushed the poorest people from farms to towns and villages. The
dramatic increase in the number of factories has created jobs for some of these
former farmers. These workers were relatively ignorant (compared to the master
craftsmen), but they could be trained to operate the new machines that had been
introduced.
The flow of rural populations to cities has overwhelmed physical structures. Poorly
built and cheap houses developed and people flocked to them. Public health
facilities, such as adequate sewage systems, could not keep up with population
growth. Some terms to note in this lesson
Anarchism:
A social philosophy that supports voluntary associations between people as a form
of self-government, as opposed to central governments dominated by a monarch or
other central figure.
Capitalism:
A system for organizing the economy of a society in which the ownership of
machines and factories is private rather than public.
,Communism:
A form of government in which all people have common property, both land and
capital.
Socialism:
A political and economic system in which people control both the government and
important parts of the economy, such as owning (or strictly regulating) factories.
The British system of basic necessities for the poor, based on an old system of
rural parishes (subdivisions of counties corresponding to a local church), allowed
for a sudden increase in both the total population and the concentration of the poor
in towns and cities. . The nature of factory work - long working days (16-hour
working days were not uncommon), monotonous work, widespread employment of
children - exacerbated health problems. Low wages have resulted in housing
overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and inadequate nutrition.
Significant environmental changes have occurred. Coal was the universal fuel for
powering factories and heating homes. Soot, a byproduct of burnt coal, blanketed
English cities, blackening many buildings over time and contributing to air
pollution, both in poorly ventilated factories and outdoors. Lack of sewage
treatment plants has resulted in the dumping of raw human waste into streams and
rivers
, The Reform Act of 1832
The British Parliament in the early 1800s was a very different institution than it has
become. For generations, the Parliament of London has included aristocrats and
high church officials who sit in the House of Lords, as well as wealthy and
prominent citizens who sit in the House of Commons. Only very wealthy people
could vote for the House of Commons in the general election (no member of the
House of Lords was elected; everyone inherited a seat there as an aristocrat or,
under his position, became a member of the Church of England, the official
religion). The majority of the people, including all women and all workers without
property, had no voice in government.
Members of Parliament reflected the social structure of medieval England (c. 500-
1400), when social, economic and political power was based on land or religion.
And with members of the House of Commons often representing towns rather than
a specific number of people, changes in England over the centuries had created
some strange situations.
For example, centuries of soil erosion had caused much of the seaside town of
Dunwich to collapse into the sea. Its population had fallen to thirty-two electors by
1831. Nevertheless, the town sent an MP in parliament, as she had done for
generations. On the other hand, Manchester, England, with a population of 60,000,
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