Section 5.9 - Society in the Industrial Age Flashcards
Changes in urban areas in the first half of the 19th century
Urban areas grew rapidly without much planning causing damage to the environment such as pollution.
Problems inhabitants of urban areas faced
Crowded into tenements often built in slums, working-class families who lived in these apartments often faced the spreading of deadly diseases like cholera, fires, crimes, and violence
Slums
Areas of cities where low-income families lived amongst the by-products of industrialization such as polluted water and open sewers.
How did slums change over time
Fire and police departments were created, public health acts were pathed, decreasing the danger of disease through better sewage systems and the removal of garbage, and building standards were implemented to reduce accidents.
While life could be very hard for poor and working-class people, the growing middle class had…
increased access to goods, housing, culture, and education
What caused changes in the social classes of England?
Industrialism
New social order created by industrialism
At the top were land/large corporation owners and industrialists, then the middle class (sophisticated jobs as managers or professionals), then the large working class (factories/textile mills). Society was based on industrialism instead of agriculture
What was something that caused many people to move from rural areas to cities?
They hoped to find a better life in the cities such as the wealth and opportunities of the middle class and many did
Industrialism’s effects on the structure of family life
They no longer worked in close proximity (farmers on their land and women spinning fabric). Instead, most of them all went to work trying to make enough money to survive
Result of industrialism/the factory system on wages
They were lower because workers were easily replaceable since they didn’t need the same kind of skills an artisan did formerly due to the division of work and interchangeable parts.
Industrialism’s effect on children
Due to low wages, kids as young as five were sent to also work in coal mines and textile mills. Being nimble and small, they could climb to fix textile machines or crawl into small places and drop explosives however the dust and working conditions were also dangerous for them.
White collar workers
Another name for middle-class workers as they worked less dangerous jobs, instead often being factory/office managers, small business owners, and professionals
Industrial Revolution’s Effect on Women
Advertising and consumer culture influenced them into how they should behave. Being a housewife was a status symbol and women were advertised to on how to make their house relaxing for their husbands, how to take care of their children, and be polite, submissive, and quiet. Feminism also rose during this time.
Cult of Domesticity
An idealization of the perfect female homemaker/women through advertisements and consumer culture.
Industrial Revolution’s Effect on the Environment
There was an increase in pollution due to things like smog (smoke and fog) that rose from factories into the air in addition to by-products that were dumped into rivers, causing a development and spread of disease.
Changes Caused by the Industrial Revolution
Mass production meant there were more goods for a cheaper price, people migrated to cities for factory jobs, pollution, workplaces were now outside of the home, crowding and poverty increased crime, and global inequalities/colonization
Continuation in Social Hierarchies and Standards of Living during the Industrial Revolution
There continued to be a large division between those on top and on the bottom. The rich upper class continued to be small while the lower class inhabited the majority of people who continued to live in poor conditions and worked laboriously while the upper class did not
Change in Social Hierarchies and Standards of Living during the Industrial Revolution
More revolts and ideas of the standards of living changed how life was. Slavery was abolished, meaning that everyone was paid for their work even if it wasn’t much, and eventually ideas due to the Enlightenment such as individualism or just a higher emphasis on a person and how valuable they were meant that people gathered together to change and improve their living conditions such as with labor unions.
