Considering the effects of the Industrial Revolution is interesting and complex because there are myriad social issues to investigate when examining the impact that the this landmark era had upon American citizens. Principally, though, the result of the Industrial Revolution is that, through making more efficient the production of manufactured goods, it helped to reduce the costs of commodities for consumers, thus allowing many items once considered luxuries to become attainable for vast segments of our population. With the price structure lowering for many items, from textiles to furniture to crop tools, Americans realized an increasing standard of living.
The rise of the American standard of living translated to our nation’s populace enjoying more conveniences and amenities for a relatively low cost. Furthermore, our nation’s economy enjoyed spurts of great growth during this time thanks to consumer spending and exports. Another benefit of the Industrial Revolution in this sense is that many jobs were created to fill the needs of assembly lines and machinery operation.
While the Industrial Revolution certainly did provide many jobs to scores of people, and the Market Revolution that would result began to produce the middle-class, the sad reality is that the vast majority of the jobs created by the Industrial Revolution were low-wage positions that barely allowed workers to subsist. Many workers found themselves living in squalor as they came home to filth-ridden tenements. Indeed, among the select group of people to financially prosper from the Industrial Revolution (outside of the consumer, who clearly benefitted from the Industrial Revolution’s many technological and manufacturing advances which helped to bring prices down and availability up on many goods) were the investors and owners of the companies and factories that flourished during the era.
Furthermore, it seems that the climate for upward economic ability was largely dependent upon as to if one, say an artisan for example, worked independently or for a company. For many skilled craftsmen who were able to work outside of areas where factories handled much of the manufacturing duties or for those who launched their own businesses, their economic realities were in their own hands, and many such people did quite well. However, for a major percentage of artisans who ended up working for major and prevailing manufacturing entities, wage-earning (and work hours) were dependent on the commands of the bosses and company owners.
One of the ways that these overworked and underpaid workers tried to remedy their situation were through the sometimes successful efforts of unions. Not only did the Industrial Revolution lend workers longer hours of arduous work, but it often resulted in stagnant and low pay rates. One could suggest that one positive benefit, so to speak, of the low pay and long hours that most companies and factories were offering their workers is the fact that the deplorable standards of pay and schedule were terrible enough to compel many workers to improve their condition. These unions gave many workers a loud voice, which often resonated in the ears of bosses, which coerced (usually with the threat of strikes) them to ameliorate the workers’ situation.
While there are indeed aspects to criticize about the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on society, one enormous positive that can be said as having come out of the Industrial Revolution was its ability to give girls and women a chance to work outside of the home. In the search for low-wage work, many companies and factories turned to girls and young women for staff-particularly a major phenomena as it relates to the case of the textile industry of the early- and mid-nineteenth century. While many of these female workers labored to collect wages for the purpose of aiding family members, helping to pay family bills, or building dowries, some, as our textbook so matter-of-factly remarks, “just had a good time,” (296).
While some may scorn the concept of women working for less pay than men, the fact of the matter is that women having such an important role during the Industrial Revolution gave them not only a certain sense of freedom, so to speak, but also did it provide a foundation upon which women could play a larger role in the larger scheme of the economy and, eventually, find themselves in other wage-earning roles as well.
Another role the Industrial Revolution played was in giving new immigrants a means for earning money. While a number of new Americans, such as those from Germany and Great Britain were able to work as artisans or buy land as farmers, other immigrants, namely Irish Catholics who were fleeing Ireland because of the potato famine or overcrowding found work at the many factories and companies needing low-wage labor. Yet, as we discover in our textbook and see in the “Industrial Revolution” video that Professor Williams offers on the course website, all was not air and well for some of these immigrant workers.
One unfortunate reality for these working immigrants, particularly those who were Catholic, is the fact that they often faced hostile reactions from other workers and citizens, especially Protestants, who not only disliked many of the new workers because of religious background but also because of the fact that these Irish, Catholic workers-for many Protestants and native citizens-represented a sense of job insecurity. As our textbook points out, many “unemployed Protestants” capitalized on anti-Catholic sentiment to accuse Catholic workers of “taking jobs and driving down wages,” (319). Some Protestants even formed clubs and organizations that sought to limit immigration and essentially persecute Catholics through changes in public and social policies.
All in all, the Industrial Revolution “revolutionized” not just manufacturing processes, but it did lend many social changes, too. Consumers now enjoyed a better standard of living and people pf all sorts could indeed find work as an employee of one of the many factories and companies springing up. However, one also finds that being such a worker often meant a dozen hours of laboring per day for very little money. Furthermore, the Industrial Revolution kept many poor workers poor while many wealthy people became wealthier. Yet, other social impacts stemming from the Industrial Revolution helped these poor workers an impetus to form often-beneficial unions, gave women a chance to seek wages, and helped countless poor immigrants find a way to make a living in their new home.
Work Cited:
Henretta, James A.; David Brody; and Lynn Dumenil. America: A Concise History. 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.
