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The Making of Industrial Society

The Role of Women in Industrial Society

• Young Women Servants

  • High demand for servants allowed women to transition between jobs easily.

  • Many sent earnings home while also saving for personal goals such as a dowry or career funds.

• Middle-Class Women

  • Generally did not work outside the home; the industrialization era confined them to domestic roles.

  • Pressured to conform to behaviors revolving around motherhood and wifehood.

  • Mrs. John Sandford (1833) emphasized the idea of women as the "weaker vessel" whose primary influence lay within domestic life.

• Working-Class Women

  • Expected to work until marriage, often needed to supplement family income.

  • Primarily dominated by domestic service roles, with a minority employed in industry.

  • Early manufacturers employed women due to perceived dexterity; however, labor-saving devices later displaced female workers.

Child Labor in Industrial Society

• Child Labor Practices

  • Children worked long hours, separating from families for extended periods, which was seen as exploitative.

  • Early reports from mills documented severe abuses, with children being forced to work from dawn to dusk.

  • Families often depended on children's wages, perpetuating child labor.

• Legislative Changes

  • By the 1840s, British Parliament began regulating child labor.

  • Laws established education as the primary task of childhood, leading to mandatory schooling by 1881.

The Socialist Challenge

• Critiques of Capitalism

  • Socialists, particularly Marx and Engels, critiqued the inequalities and exploitation resultant from capitalism.

  • Aimed to create a socially equitable society through various forms of labor representation.

• Utopian Socialists

  • Early socialists like Robert Owen and Charles Fourier sought to establish model communities.

  • Owen’s New Lanark served as a model community with improved working and living conditions.

• Marx and Engels

  • Portrayed ongoing class struggles as central to history: bourgeoisie (capitalists) vs. proletariat (workers).

  • Capitalism was seen as an impending crisis leading workers to rise against exploitation.

The Development of Trade Unions

• Role of Trade Unions

  • Created to protect workers' rights and seek better working conditions amidst opposition from employers.

  • Strikes often led to violence, highlighting tensions between unions and employers.

  • Over time, unions became integral to industrial society, advocating for better treatment within capitalism rather than overthrowing it.

Global Effects of Industrialization

• Industrialization Beyond the West

  • By the late nineteenth century, more nations, including Russia and Japan, began industrialization, reshaping global economies.

  • Industrialized powers utilized technological advantages to dominate various regions for resource extraction.

• International Division of Labor

  • Emerging patterns of economic activity resulted in traditional industries struggling against cheap imports from industrialized countries.

  • Countries producing raw materials often remained under control of industrial nations, weakening local economies.