Essay: Industrial Revolution – prosperity at what price?

Throughout history, technological advances amongst various groups of people revolutionized the way society functions as a whole. Such advances defined a new era for groups of people by completely transforming long-standing structures in favor of new systems and processes. The notion of modernizing old practices for the progression of an entire community is reflected by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a time period where new manufacturing processes and efficient practices paved their ways into society. During this time period, specifically in England, there was a rapid growth in urbanization, mass production of goods, and technological advances such as the creation of the railroad and steamships. However, as the Industrial Revolution benefited businesses and brought economic prosperity, there were many unintended social consequences. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, it precipitated the growth of a new working class that was the backbone of economic growth. The advent of the Industrial Revolution affected this proletariat class by shaping horrifying working conditions and creating significant social injustices that furthered class divisions in society.
As the advances brought by the Industrial Revolution made processes and production much more efficient, the resulting economic wealth was marked by the suffering of the proletariat class. For example, the efficient production of goods required more labor in factories, where working people were exposed to machines. In these factories, the working conditions of workers were unbearable. In document 1, the conditions that William Cooper, an industrial worker, worked under are revealed. In the factory, workers like Cooper could have ranged from children to adults, were given only forty minutes as lunch in their sixteen-hour work shifts, and were often whipped if they fell asleep at work. These conditions illustrate that regular industrial workers like William Cooper were worked to the point where they were treated like commodities. Their sole purpose was to mass produce and effectively do their tasks. This is best shown through the exploitation of children as workers. For example, many factory managers used child labor for cotton factories because they had small hands that would make them effective spinners of cotton. Children like Cooper when he was ten are often easily exploited for cheap labor, which shows that they are nothing but commodities to the economic state. This indicates that the Industrial Revolution shaped the horrifying working conditions of people by giving a rise to factories where factory bosses abused workers and kept them under strict hands. Not only were workers being horrifically abused constantly, but many workers died in the dreadful factories they worked in. In document 2, Joseph Hebergam, another industrial worker, testifies before the Sadler Committee about the working conditions in the factory he works in. He discusses how he has damaged lungs because of factory smoke and has about a year left to live due to overwork and lack of a diet. Additionally, he recounts that his brother’s death was due to a cut from a machine and another boy that dies by being caught in an open machine. This illustrates that the working conditions the proletariat class faced lead to illnesses and circumstances where death was possible. Factories were full of smoke from machines and did not have any safety devices, which explains how many accidents among workers were common. As compared to the life expectancy of others in England and Europe, many of these factory workers had less of a life expectancy due to a lack of precautions in factories and overwork. This indicates that the Industrial Revolution shaped the horrifying working conditions of people by exposing them to dangerous machines and smoke, which led to more worker accidents and deaths.
The lifestyles of the working class during the Industrial Revolution demonstrate that the physical and mental limits of workers are constantly put to the test every day. Reflecting on their experiences, it is vital to understand how massive injustices destroy the identities of many industrial workers’. The appalling epistemology that factory bosses hold is that the perception of the worker is that of the perception of the machine. Both the worker and the machine is perceived in such a manner that they exist only to further profitable production. The identity of the worker submerges with that of the machine and the identity of the worker vanishes in a sudden thirst of profit. This perception is the root of the despicable bubble that the working class is trapped in. In document 7, it is apparent that the working class lives in slums. For instance, in their communities, streets are unpaved and filthy, there are no drains, and there are mainly one room cabins with garbage around them. This living conditions of the working class show that many workers failed to barely make ends meet and were one of the most deprived classes in their society. The author, Friedrich Engels, references this idea of how the working class tried to dissipate from the rest of society. The author talks in a socialist point of view, which indicates that he was in favor of production not being handled by the current state but by the community. This influences his thoughts on the working class trying to stay out of sight, but does not affect his observations of them living in slums. His purpose was to spread awareness of these conditions of the working class and disproving the current system that disregarded the community, which would be his audience. During this time, many theorists used rational inquiry to explain their ideas. Shifting away to a more economic approach, Karl Marx believed that Capitalism led to an endless divide in classes. This is evident in the working proletariat class because as industries developed, not only did the class face horrid working conditions, but as shown by document 7, they lost their identity and grew poorer as the upper class grew richer, which is supported by Document 4. Document 4, from Charles Knight’s The Working Man’s Companion discusses about how Industrialization brought many benefits such as better built houses, cheaper clothes and utensils, and efficient modes of transportation. This point of view is significant because it brings into light the average worker’s influence on domestic advancements, which is Knight’s audience. However, Knight’s rationale of better built houses and utensils did not apply to the lives of these workers, but instead to those who could afford them in the first place. He neglects the social consequences on the lives of average workers and by referring to how workers gained new comforts that weren’t available in the past, it is clear he does not understand that the economic and social conditions on the average worker negatively outweighed the benefits. The Industrial Revolution perpetuated Capitalist oppression in the lives of these workers and its exploitation of labor displaced the workers in society, creating a bigger class divide between the bourgeois and the proletariat. This connects back to the idea of how the Industrial Revolution affects the average worker because it creates a larger class divide between them and other classes economically, which will continue to grow as Capitalism continues to oppress the average worker.
Others argue that the social conditions of the average worker during the Industrial Revolution were not that unpleasant. In documents 3 and 5, it is evident that many workers in factories did not face beatings and their assigned work brought them sufficient wages and exercise. The author of document 3, Andrew Ure, reveals his point of view on child workers to his audience, who were workers with children, by describing that that children working in factories was a better alternative than them staying at home. The source of document 5, Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, reveal their point of view on child workers to their audience, who were the poor, by showing that only fourteen children have died in a timespan of twelve years. These points of views are significant because they exemplify that the lives of children workers were not that cruel. Nonetheless, the lightened treatment of children does not take away the pain experienced by adult workers in factories. Even though, documents 3, 4, and 5 contradict with documents 1, 2, and 7 because the first set of documents support the impacts of the Industrial Revolution whereas the second set criticize these impacts, documents 3, 4, and 5 show how the social consequences of the transformation outweighed the benefits discussed in 1, 2, and 7. The first set of documents support the same idea that average industrial workers faced human abuses and the destruction of their social identities. The latter set of documents corroborate with each other by illustrating that conditions for child workers were quite decent and beneficial, which suggests that the “uplifting” conditions were only present for children and not adult workers. The sole reason for this was for these children to stay alive and grow up healthier so they can work more efficiently in factories as adults, supporting the idea that the average industrial worker was negatively affected and continued facing social abuses. As argued, even though the standards of living for children may be better, they are stuck in the same cycle as they grow up to face the same abuses that average aged workers face on a daily basis.
Overall, the Industrial Revolution brought many advancements to different societies at the cost of the suffering working class. The transformation from olden ways of manufacturing to a more modern process used the average worker as a commodity to speed up the production of goods and profits. During this time, the average industrial worker faced horrifying working conditions in factories such as exposure to hazardous smoke and machines, being overworked, and paid less than minimum wage, which led to the deaths of many workers. These social abuses that workers faced was rooted in a class divide between the rich and the poor, which was evident in the poor environment and homes that the average worker lived in. In essence, the Industrial Revolution promoted technological advancements and allowed for economic prosperity, but only at the price of social injustices that the average industrial worker faced.