Industrial Age Challenges

Industrialization Spreads• Britain, the first major industrial power,

was soon joined by Germany, France, and the U.S.– these nations were larger, had more

resources than Britain– they took advantage of British ideas and

inventions• Other nations were slower to catch on

to industrialization– Russia– countries of Eastern Europe– countries of Southern Europe– countries in Africa, Latin America, and

Asia (except Japan)• Industrialized nations began to use

technology to dominate non-industrialized ones

Urbanization• Unemployed peasants had

moved into towns to find work, creating a cheap labor pool; once factories were built to take advantage of this cheap labor, the new jobs drew even more peasants to town, further feeding urban population growth

• Small towns could become large cities in a matter of just a few years

Urban Challenges• Sudden population growth

presented new challenges:• Pollution: How do you manage

waste?• Tenements: How do you house

people?• Water: How do you provide

enough?• Disease: How do you prevent and

control it?• Fire: How do you prevent and

control it?• Crime: How do you prevent and

control it?

Pollution• Mass produced goods

were cheap and disposable, leading to a tremendous growth in “trash”

• Coal powered factories produced large amounts of air pollution

• Waste water runoff and lack of sanitary sewers polluted lakes and rivers

Housing• Large numbers of working

class people had to be housed in a limited amount of space, leading to the construction of cheap “tenement” houses

• Conditions were dangerous: most apartments had limited access to natural light, fresh air, bathroom facilities, or exits

Water• Water for drinking,

cooking and bathing often came from nearby lakes or rivers

• These were the same lakes and rivers that were used to dump raw sewage and industrial waste, so waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery were common

Disease• Spread much more

rapidly in cities due to:– More frequent

interactions amongst people

– Crowded living conditions

– Contaminated water– Poor working conditions– Spoiled or unclean food

Fire• Growth was so quick in most

cities that no building codes could be enforced (if they even existed)

• Most buildings were built of wood, or were at least wood framed

• People depended on candles or gas to heat and light their homes and businesses

• London formed the first citywide public fire department in the 1830s to meet the threat of fire

Crime• As cities grew larger, they

could no longer rely on civilian watch organizations and were forced to develop professional police forces

• At the same time, the number of crimes punishable by death was dropping, leading to an increase in the number of prisons needed

Urban Transformations• Streets became wider, straighter,

and paved (especially after the invention of automobiles)

• Many older parts of cities torn down (or burned!) and replaced with new buildings and parks laid out in a grid pattern of “city blocks”

• Gas and electric lighting appeared

• Taller buildings began to appear as steel started to be used in construction

Factory Working Conditions• Monotonous – workers

performed same job hour after hour, day after day

• Shifts lasted 12-16 hours; many factories operated 24 hours a day

• Dangerous machinery with no safety precautions– frequent loss of limbs, fingers,

sight, hearing– lung diseases from coal and lint

dust– if you were injured or unable to

work, you were fired

Public Education• Public schools were used as a

means to train future factory workers:– Taught “the three Rs” = reading,

writing, and ‘rithmatic (math) , in order to produce a literate and more productive workforce

– Taught punctuality by ringing bells to change stations or tasks

– Taught obedience to authority (teachers = bosses)

– Taught self-discipline and instilled an ethic for hard work

Child Labor• Factory operators often

preferred to hire women and children:– They were smaller, so there

was room for more machines– They were cheaper, since they

weren’t the main earners in their family

– They were easier to intimidate with violence

– Orphans were preferred, since no one would miss them if they were killed in an accident

Workers’ Unions• Workers tried to organize to

get better pay and working conditions

• Tried tactics such as labor strikes, boycotts, and collective bargaining to end unsafe or unfair labor practices

• Unions and labor strikes, however, were bad for businesses and were often outlawed by governments

Luddite Movement• Many skilled artisans and

craftsmen were put out of business by the cheap, mass-produced goods manufactured by factories

• These disgruntled workers sometimes formed “Luddite” clubs to oppose factory construction or to even commit acts of sabotage or arson against factories

Methodism• New branch of Christianity founded in

the mid-1700s by John Wesley• Preaches that hope lies in personal

salvation through missionary work• Methodist ministers took their

message out amongst the poor rather than limiting themselves to churches

• Targeted the neediest people in society and fought for a number of social reforms

• Methodists founded the Salvation Army in London in 1865, an organization which sought to reform alcoholics and prostitutes through “soup, soap, and salvation”