Industrialisation and urbanisation Flashcards
Topic sentence
Other Historians argue that industrialisations and urbanisation was a more important factor when explaining the growth of democracy in Britain.
Evidence 1
By 1911, the population of Britain had increased to 45.3 million people with 80% of people living in urban areas.
Analysis 1
This contributed to Britain becoming more democratic because in such conditions political ideas began to take root amounts ordinary worker who sought the vote as a means to improve their everyday life.
Evidence 2
Furthermore, the introduction of Compulsory education introduced in the 1870s meant that the population was better educated and informed than previous generations. Indeed from the 1880s newspapers became more widely circulated nationally.
Analysis 2
This contributed to Britain becoming more democratic because as a result of being better educated and able to access news, working class people became more politically aware in the late 19th century which helped them advocate and protest for reform.
Counter analysis
However, some historians argue that the working classes still didn’t get a greater say in how the country was run as progressive legislation such as the Representation of the People Acts were implemented in the early 20th century, literally decades after the socio-economic changes impacted Britains political landscape.
Evaluation
To evaluate, it is clear that industrialisation and urbanisation was the most significant factor in Britain becoming more democratic because against this backdrop grew Trade Unions and other views of the unrepresented working classes in order to put pressure on the Government to bring about democratising reforms. Historian D.G Wright puts emphasis on the importance of this as he argues, “Parliamentary reform was largely a reflection of changes in the economic and social structure of the country.”
