The Industrial Revolution

A Closer Look

PowerPoint # 3

Humanities 110

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Social Benefits
Factories created (1721) Better goods and services available Growth of the cities Improved cities: sanitation, streets, shops, etc. Growth of consumerism consumer economy Democratization of goods and services Transportation and communication transformed News democratized; literacy grew Entertainment more important Democracy spread as availability to news spread

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Social Problems

Not everyone shared in the new economy Mass migration of rural families into cities Often lived in substandard factory housing Slum is a word coined during this era Sanitation problems

Long labor without breaks Unlike agricultural times Child labor until 1833 Factory Act in 1833 in England limited youth under 18 to 12 hours per day and children could not work at night; children under 9 not at all.
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Social Problems Continued

Pollution Change in structure of the family:

Redefined gender roles

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Changing views of technology

Workers concerns
Expressed by the Luddites, for example

Religious concerns
Decreased power of the church as a social institution The view of God shrank as the faith in science grow

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Artistic Views and Concerns

Beginning to question the limits of science

Best example: Frankenstein (1816); first work of science fiction

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Similarities and differences to our times?

Promise of progress and technology Rapid change, even transformation Consumerism Unequal distribution of wealth and resources

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Romantic Movement in literature

Criticized the Industrial Revolution at times. Emphasized the reconciliation of man and nature

Example: London by William Blake

HUM 110 PowerPoint # 3