The industrial nation required more unskilled laborers and people which allowed for all the immigrants from northern Europe and their children helped to provide the labor needed. Most of the working people had special attributes that would put them in a higher position than the rest and leave them to receive more pay. An example of this is “A craftsman who was unhappy with his or her employer could leave that job behind knowing that it was an easy matter to find another. Skilled workers were always in demand. All of this changed with the coming of machine production.
The working conditions were hazardous and many men, women, and children died from accidents that would happen with the machinery. “If the English worker died of starvation or was injured by accident in the mills, it mattered not to the employer, for he was not legally liable, and the worker’s place could be supplied from among the thousands ready to work for even a bare subsistence.” Men and women would have to work hard for long hours and receive only a low wage. Adult men were paid more than women or children, but their wages were still not enough to support a
The owners forced them to live in isolated communities near workshops and forced them to buy goods with high interests. The cities were poorly constructed and crowded with people and residents. The work was also dangerous with not much supervising by the government.Workers, on the other hand, had little or even no bargaining power to leave the unsafe conditions. Nowadays, When Americans only pay attention when extreme work strike, levels of abuse are the norm hidden in the factories around the globe. Although the condition seems much improved, consumers don’t know the true fact- “Today, American citizens simply cannot know the working conditions of the factories that make the products they buy.
With this in mind, with the dream of a better life, many unskilled immigrants who migrated from different rural areas relocated to different areas to find work. Unfortunately, many of these immigrants were upset when they arrived and discovered that the truth was not as they had to believe, more specifically the working conditions were terrible and dangerous during the Industrial Revolution. As a matter of fact, workers had to work closely with powerful machines that had no safety features which was
Workers were only paid enough to support their homes and they could barely support their family. The air in the mills, filled with cotton dust made people cough and sometimes lead to pneumonia. One benefit was that workers were given their own houses, yet all their family was crammed into one small room and the house was usually dirty and its water supply polluted. To make things worse, the mill owners taxed the worker’s family on how much water they used. To the workers, the mills were satanic and to furnish this idea, the industrial revolution, along with the mills, sparked revolts across the country.
The average life a person lives in this time period comes easy. Though we may have certain struggles, they don’t compare to the daily problems of lower class throughout the Victorian Era. Although there were many successful people during this time, poverty became a huge issue for the common family. Poverty issues influenced adults as well as the children. All ages got the enjoyment of life stolen from them in this rigid era.
The average life a person lives in this time period comes easy. Though we may have certain struggles, they don’t compare to the daily problems of lower class throughout the Victorian Era. Of course, there were many successful people during this time, poverty became a huge issue for the common family. Shortage issues influenced adults as well as the children. All ages got the enjoyment of life stolen from them in this rigid era.
Businesses and factories needed work. Business grew extremely quickly and had a very high demand for work. Many people were willing to work with the only requirement being, they got paid. At the start of the revolution, the workers were not concerned with working conditions, wages, or what they were doing for work. People cared about making money, not necessarily how much money they made.
The lives of industrial textile workers were significantly impacted by the Industrial Revolution. Firstly, industrial textile workers were immediately impacted by the high demand for goods. This affected the ages of workers employed, the length of shifts and the amount of materials required. As textile factory owners “extracted the greatest amount of labour from workers for the lowest wages possible” (Source A), many employed women and children to power machines to cope with the high demand as they could pay them less. This can be seen in Source H, as many of the people depicted are children and females.
Given that the Victorian Era was a little over two hundred years ago, it has a large amount of differences from modern society. A walk through daily life in society back then could easily display the contrasting values, principles, and guidelines between the two time periods. Over time, society’s perspectives have morphed from that of the Victorian Era. Firstly, the cities of the Victorian Era were not sanitary. At the beginning of the era, illnesses spread rapidly, which resulted in an extremely high death rate and the life expectancy was much shorter than today’s (Mitchell).