TOPIC OF INTEREST #4: LIFE BEFORE & AFTER THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Our readings for this week touch on the topic of the Industrial Revolution. In this post, I will explore what life was like before the Industrial Revolution and the impact it had on society as a whole.

(Picture of woman working out of her home before the Industrial Revolution from http://www.lhslobos.org)

The Industrial Revolution is a period of time in history in which machines began replacing work that was done by hand, beginning in England in the 18th Century and lasting until the turn of the 20th Century. It changed the way the world did everything, from communication to work and living conditions to medical care. Before the Industrial Revolution, most people lived outside of urban areas; they farmed land to support themselves and if something was needed they made it in their homes. As a matter of fact, "less than 10 percent of the people of Europe lived in cities" (http://www.puhsd.k12.ca.us/). Many people died of common illnesses that are treated today with simple antibiotics. Male children often followed in the footsteps of their fathers, taking on whatever trades their fathers taught them. People made their own clothes, furniture, food, and medicines with recipes handed down to them from the previous generation. The average life expectancy in England in 1837 was "in the high 30s" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/). Numbers for the United States in the mid 19th Century were similar.

The Industrial Revolution was sparked by the textile and iron industries; the demand for such goods made businesses compete with one another for sales, ushering in new ways to mass produce these goods and transport them to buyers (http://www.puhsd.k12.ca.us/). Factories began to replace working from home; buying goods in stores began to replace farming the land. The list of things invented during the Industrial Revolution is staggering and laid the ground work for the technologies that we enjoy today; some of these inventions include: locomotives, the telegraph, electricity, indoor plumbing, and the phonograph. Every modern item that we enjoy today was invented during the Industrial Revolution.

(Picture of child working in a mill during the Industrial Revolution from http://teacherlink.org/)
(This picture illustrates common living conditions within cities during the Industrial Revolution; these buildings where people made their homes were called tenemants. Picture from http://teacherlink.org)

Not everything about the Industrial Revolution was good; it did create new problems that people before the revolution never faced. Factories introduced pollution and smog, mass migration out of the country side into the city created unsanitary living conditions and crime, and the need for mass production of goods created forced child labor. Eventually, activists and governments got involved to regulate these problems; however, we face these problems still today. On the other hand, the technologies born of the Industrial Revolution improved healthcare and today we enjoy a life expectancy of 78.3 years in the United States (http://www.census.gov/). In England, males can expect to live 77.7 years and females, 81.6 years (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/). Because of the Industrial Revolution, life expectancy has more than doubled.

This is an interesting video, about 20 min. long, pertaining to the Industrial Revolution from http://videos.howstuffworks.com)