Befor Before The Industrial Revolution: Centralized And Socialized Labor

With the big switch from a subsistence to an economic market, there were major distinctions between the two eras. The transition from pre-industrial to industrial work soon became centralized and socialized labor. Men, woman, and children no longer were working in agriculture by themselves and for themselves, but with and for a larger general public. This new social grouping brought on new conditions for those working in factories and mines. Important inventions like the flying shuttle and the mule jenny increased the amount of product being produced by a small number of workers. Groups of people who would not have originally met were working together to create consumer goods. Although there were immense improvements in technology that created considerable amounts of produce for the population, strict policies for disobedience or tardiness had to be put in place.

Once factory and mine work was in effect, the distinct working style brought on unavoidable punishment that ranged from as little as a fine to as detrimental as being fired for disobeying a long set of rules. Rules like machines needing to be cleaned and workers “had to be at their work station on time and remain there” (“Labor Old and New,” page 136) were the fundamental rules that started to regulate work in the ways that the modern era is so use to. Women in the pre-industrial period usually worked alongside their husbands and fathers, while women in the industrial period usually were house keepers and performed tasks “that could be done at home-‘slop work,’ that is, needle trades, bookbinding, millinery, or other such occupations” (“Labor Old and New,” page 136). During the industrial age, girls were required to work in factories and most worked in the textile industry. Girls who worked in the textile factories were constructing woven goods at rapid speeds. In the pre-industrial age, people constructed textiles at