Essay Sample on The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the transition into new manufacturing introducing mechanical machines, also known as the factory system. The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain, Continental Europe, and the United States during the 1760-1820 time period. The Industrial Revolution came with a mileage of progressions, specifically for the working class. The working class were faced with many challenges with this new revolution, but also faced countless advancements such as work-life expansion and improvement, urbanization implementation, and altered education with new subversive reforms. 

To begin with, over the course of the Industrial Revolution urbanization was increasingly evident. Especially for the working class, urbanization became very popular amongst this large group of people. At the time, cities were more densely populated than ever before. For example, in England, the proportion of the population living in urban areas jumped from 17% to 72% over the course of just 90 years after the Industrial Revolution. The reason for this, simply the factory systems. The Industrial Revolution was only introduced after factories began manufacturing goods with machinery. With these new technologies, countless jobs were needed all throughout the workforce. The constant hiring of the working class generated an unreasonable acceleration of population growth within cities and urban areas. These new settlements just gave the factory owners and employers a larger pool of workers to choose from. As this rapid population may seem all great for factories, it was far from perfect for citizens. The living conditions were commonly substandard. Minimal housing, rat infestations, disease, overcrowding, and trash were just a few sideaffects of urbanization.

Moreover, with new opportunities opening up in factories for immigrants, these urban areas seemed extremely attractive because of the promised stability and well paying jobs, but these people soon found themselves doubting once they realize how bad the overcrowding was. In contrast to the negative effects, the Industrial Revolution showed justice for a new class of people, which was created through urbanization. Those who were living in healthier conditions, and made slightly more money were classified as the middle class. Not only did urbanization create a new class, but additionally, it increased international trade, cities grew, and because of the factory count increasing, more production was able to occur, and for much cheaper. As clearly stated through facts, and plenty of evidence, Stephen Gardiner also has opinions on the affects urbanization has had on the working class, and overall society. “The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization” (Gardiner). Clearly, the story of civilization (urbanization), was greatly affected by the Industrial Revolution, which later affected the working class to a great extent.