SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION.
From the 19th Century
By the year 1900, the impact of the industrial revolution was being felt in the
United States. Virtually every aspect of daily life had changed dramatically over
the past century. Owners of factories, natural resources (mostly oil) and trading
networks such as railways had made huge fortunes. People who were once
scattered across dozens of small rural farms now lived in cities and worked for
employers who, in many ways, viewed their employees as living parts of a
complex machine called a factory. Those who still lived in the countryside used
new machinery and chemicals to grow crops or livestock that would be transported
to distant markets. In the United States, 40% of the population lived in cities, up
from 6% in the 1800s. Over the next 20 years, most Americans would live in urban
areas.
Such radical transformations hardly went unnoticed. The reality of the industrial
revolution was reflected in the changes in government and politics, as well as in
the new civil society organizations that were established independently of the
government.
Social and political impact of the second phase of the industrial revolution: words
to know
,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 of organizing the
economy of a society in which ownership of machinery and factories is private
rather than public.
Communism: A form of government in which everyone shares property, including
land and capital.
Union: A voluntary association of workers who band together to pressure their
employer for better wages, shorter hours, or other benefits.
Monopoly: A company large enough to control the price of a product
independently of competition.
Retirement: A monthly payment to employees who retire from a company after
reaching a certain age or after a certain number of years for that company.
Socialism: a political and economic system in which people control both
government and important elements of the economy, such as owning (or strictly
regulating) factories.
,Social assistance: Efforts to alleviate a range of problems that the poorest people
often face, such as unemployment, poverty and housing shortages.
Strike: Refusal to work by union members who seek to close a factory or other
facility as a means of putting pressure on the employer to grant higher wages or
other improvements in working conditions.
Strikebreakers: workers who take the place of striking workers. They are hired by
entrepreneurs in an attempt to defeat the attackers. Tariff: a tax on imports.
Society in the industrial age
In 1914, auto giant Henry Ford (1863-1947) made headlines when he started
paying workers $ 5 a day, roughly double what other manufacturers were paying at
the time. The average non-Ford worker earned less than $ 800 a year for a six-day
work week. (Ford partially paid its employees better so that they could afford to
buy the cars they made, bringing more sales and profits to Ford.) Calculated in
2003 dollars, a Ford employee in 1914 was earning about $ 28,000 a year, while he
was earning about $ 14,000 a year.
The life of a typical worker at the beginning of the twentieth century was difficult.
The wages were low, the working hours were long, and the working conditions
were brutal and often extremely dangerous. At 4:30 pm, the dangers of the
factories were dramatized. on March 25, 1911, when a fire broke out at the
, Triangle Shirtwaist Company on the top three floors of the Asch Building in New
York City. There five hundred employees, mainly Jewish immigrant women
between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, sewed women's shirts. Fueled by all
the fabric, the fire quickly spread to all three floors of the factory. In fifteen
minutes 146 women had died. Many jumped to their deaths; others tried to slide
down elevator cables but lost their footing; many were burned alive. Firefighters
tried to rescue the women, but their ladders only reached the sixth floor, one floor
below the factory, and the women jumping from the windows tore through the fire
netting as they collapsed , attacking in groups of three or four held hands.
The second phase of the Industrial Revolution was characterized by a combination
of low wages for long hours (ten hours a day, six days a week) and precarious
working conditions. In addition, workers who have lost their jobs suddenly find
themselves without income. Paid vacation and health insurance were unknown.
When a person grew old and wanted to retire, it was necessary to have personal
savings to live on; Companies paid pensions without a pension. Also, the work was
unstable. When employers ran out of product orders, workers were told not to
come. No job, no pay. A sick worker was not paid for that day and could lose his
job to someone who could work. Many workers have gone weeks without work or
pay each year because their employer closed during a recession. Even for better-
From the 19th Century
By the year 1900, the impact of the industrial revolution was being felt in the
United States. Virtually every aspect of daily life had changed dramatically over
the past century. Owners of factories, natural resources (mostly oil) and trading
networks such as railways had made huge fortunes. People who were once
scattered across dozens of small rural farms now lived in cities and worked for
employers who, in many ways, viewed their employees as living parts of a
complex machine called a factory. Those who still lived in the countryside used
new machinery and chemicals to grow crops or livestock that would be transported
to distant markets. In the United States, 40% of the population lived in cities, up
from 6% in the 1800s. Over the next 20 years, most Americans would live in urban
areas.
Such radical transformations hardly went unnoticed. The reality of the industrial
revolution was reflected in the changes in government and politics, as well as in
the new civil society organizations that were established independently of the
government.
Social and political impact of the second phase of the industrial revolution: words
to know
,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 of organizing the
economy of a society in which ownership of machinery and factories is private
rather than public.
Communism: A form of government in which everyone shares property, including
land and capital.
Union: A voluntary association of workers who band together to pressure their
employer for better wages, shorter hours, or other benefits.
Monopoly: A company large enough to control the price of a product
independently of competition.
Retirement: A monthly payment to employees who retire from a company after
reaching a certain age or after a certain number of years for that company.
Socialism: a political and economic system in which people control both
government and important elements of the economy, such as owning (or strictly
regulating) factories.
,Social assistance: Efforts to alleviate a range of problems that the poorest people
often face, such as unemployment, poverty and housing shortages.
Strike: Refusal to work by union members who seek to close a factory or other
facility as a means of putting pressure on the employer to grant higher wages or
other improvements in working conditions.
Strikebreakers: workers who take the place of striking workers. They are hired by
entrepreneurs in an attempt to defeat the attackers. Tariff: a tax on imports.
Society in the industrial age
In 1914, auto giant Henry Ford (1863-1947) made headlines when he started
paying workers $ 5 a day, roughly double what other manufacturers were paying at
the time. The average non-Ford worker earned less than $ 800 a year for a six-day
work week. (Ford partially paid its employees better so that they could afford to
buy the cars they made, bringing more sales and profits to Ford.) Calculated in
2003 dollars, a Ford employee in 1914 was earning about $ 28,000 a year, while he
was earning about $ 14,000 a year.
The life of a typical worker at the beginning of the twentieth century was difficult.
The wages were low, the working hours were long, and the working conditions
were brutal and often extremely dangerous. At 4:30 pm, the dangers of the
factories were dramatized. on March 25, 1911, when a fire broke out at the
, Triangle Shirtwaist Company on the top three floors of the Asch Building in New
York City. There five hundred employees, mainly Jewish immigrant women
between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, sewed women's shirts. Fueled by all
the fabric, the fire quickly spread to all three floors of the factory. In fifteen
minutes 146 women had died. Many jumped to their deaths; others tried to slide
down elevator cables but lost their footing; many were burned alive. Firefighters
tried to rescue the women, but their ladders only reached the sixth floor, one floor
below the factory, and the women jumping from the windows tore through the fire
netting as they collapsed , attacking in groups of three or four held hands.
The second phase of the Industrial Revolution was characterized by a combination
of low wages for long hours (ten hours a day, six days a week) and precarious
working conditions. In addition, workers who have lost their jobs suddenly find
themselves without income. Paid vacation and health insurance were unknown.
When a person grew old and wanted to retire, it was necessary to have personal
savings to live on; Companies paid pensions without a pension. Also, the work was
unstable. When employers ran out of product orders, workers were told not to
come. No job, no pay. A sick worker was not paid for that day and could lose his
job to someone who could work. Many workers have gone weeks without work or
pay each year because their employer closed during a recession. Even for better-
