The Industrial Revolution's Impact On Society In Britain

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The Industrial Revolutions impact on society in Britain. Progress in technology and the economy, led to big changes in society during the industrialization. The industrial revolution started in Britain at the end of the 17th century, and caused increasing population, wealth and power. How were the working conditions, for people and children? How were the living conditions for the less wealthy? What caused the urbanization? How did the industrial revolution affect the public health and life expectancy? What was the emerging middle class, working class families and the role of women? The working class in the industrial revolution was the majority of society in Britain. People left the farms and started their new life in the city, at the beginning …show more content…

Quite a few went to live in “poorhouses”, established by the government. These houses had particularly harsh conditions, and could compare to that of a prison. Families was separated, and forced to work every day. Regardless of these conditions, a great number of people became desperate enough to become a workhouse occupant. People from the countryside moved to the cities. This started the urbanization. New industries was constructed, and made the growing cities a source of wealth in England. Unfortunately, urbanization also had negative effects. The working-class neighborhoods were filthy, with no ventilation between houses that was badly constructed. This caused a lot of problems with the public health. The public health in England was very poor in the first half of the 19th century. Due to overcrowding, fast spreading of diseases was a major issue. Horrible sanitation and hygiene was caused by lack of sewage systems, toilets and clean water. The cause of death among many people was cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid and influenza. Garbage from the household were thrown into the streets, and the air was filled with black smoke from the factories. The open sewer was not stopped before 1875. The public health act declared that a new sewage system was to be built, with rubbish collecting and health …show more content…

In most cases, people that went to a doctor for treatment became more ill. Early deaths for patients in the cities, made the life expectancy much lower than in the country. For a long time it had only been two classes in society, aristocrats and commoners. Toward the end of the 19th century, a new class called the middle class started slowly appearing. The aristocrats were people born into lives of wealth and status. The commoners were people with little to no money, born to work to earn their living. The new middle class however, were people that earned their wealth by hard work and success, by jobs that gave regular payment every month or year. The working class families earned money to support each other. For centuries, agriculture had ruled over British economy, and families worked together on farms. The industrial revolution made people separate work and home. Men earned the money, and the women took care of the home and