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Introduction
Since Industrial revolution began in the twentieth century, it has drawn attention of many economists and historians. There were significant changes in the lives of most Europeans during the era of the industrial revolution. These changes had a significant impact on the lives of the citizens, the cultures and lifestyles as they could do little to stop it.
There was a need for expansion in size and wealth among the European nations. In their quest to meet such ambitious objectives, there was the need to use heavy machinery in order to produce goods in masses.
Such innovation finally changed the lives of the most hardworking individuals hence revolutionizing the whole world. Most employees who had been farming, working in artistry, and merchants among others lost their source of livelihoods. This is attributed to the introduction of machinery in the manufacturing industry.
Social Consequences of Industrial revolution
Intolerable working conditions
Problem:
Workers were desperate to find replacement jobs since mills placed many farmers in plantations out of business. During the period of industrial revolution, employees were forced to deal with negative changes in the workplace.
These included lower salaries and harsh working conditions (Waugh, 2001). Therefore, the millers realized how individual workers behaved and were seen of little significance and could easily be exchangeable. They, therefore, capitalized on such negative basis hence birth of Capitalism.
Painting Industry provides a perfect example in demonstrating the exploitation of workers. In the image of The Great Crane at Bruges by Bayerisches Satsbibliothek’s, there are four male workers (Waugh, 2001). Their ages are not known, and they run in a large wheel that generates enough energy that helps in operating the cranes.
This painting acts as proof of how the workers were forced to live in hardships and risky environment, which resulted in the same, if not, reduced salaries.
Bosses offered harsh threatening treatments to their employees. Having known that even children were able to operate a machine, they decided to change the relationship between the employer and the employee. They replaced workers on a daily basis hence need for strict working environment arose.
The only way to produce clothing was by hiring trained craftsmen to work in the textile factories. This arose at the period when steam engines and gears were being introduced. Therefore, craftsmanship was seen to be a more viable profession than farming and others.
This is demonstrated by the image Weaving: A Sixteenth Century German Weaver and His Loom where the workers, craftsmen, appear to be comfortable with their little workspace (Waugh, 2001). They rarely complained about work problems that affected them.
Solution:
The secrets of technological change, economic growth and development accompanied by respective problems are unlocked in the period 1760-1850. This is an era of relatively diverse terms regarding the industrial revolution, notably the “dark, satanic mills”.
This harsh description of industrial revolution had an impact on the way policies were formulated. Detractors of capitalism have for such reasons won the battle. The strong points of argument are related to the misery and poverty among the working class.
This was the main reason why the government had to come in through social and economic affairs. This point is supported by a Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek as he observes that the pessimists’ portrayal of industrial revolution is a supreme myth. The advent of large volume of legislation ranging from antitrust laws to wage laws, are a product of the anti-capitalists mentality.
Increased Real Wages and Family Breakups
Consider the kind of life before industrial revolution. The man would in a common marriage family setup, work on his farm. However, if he was lucky enough, he was trained as a crafts man by a member of the guild. In order to get more profits, the female and children would accompany the man.
Due to new difficult labor conditions and entrenched corruption in their cultures and lifestyles, social family breakups were experienced. There were also changes in the social and economic standards of most citizens that shook the existence of families.
Documents such as Weaving: An English Cotton Mill, Labor Protest: Luddite Attack on a Water-Powered Textile Mill in the West Riding of Yorkshire, The Work Year in Seventeenth-Century Lille and Weaving: A Sixteenth-Century German Weaver and His Loom are all primary sources published in the historical era of the Industrial Revolution illustrates this point (Waugh, 2001).
It is worth noting that there was an increase in real income for the working class. This increased the standard of living for the majority of employees. However, the cost of earning the wages is huge if quantified (Waugh, 2001).
Child labor
During the industrial revolution period, children were hired to work in firms under deplorable conditions. The working conditions of the employees were intolerable. The managers would prefer using children as they could not stand up and demand their rights despite receiving low wages.
However, problems of child labor have persisted in the post-industrial revolution to the information age. Children are still being employed in cocoa farms and mines. This is a psychological aspect developed over the years. It can only be corrected by proper education, and appropriate laws that can protect children.
Capitalism
Untenable arguments on capitalism
There is an idea that is spread widely among the proponents of capitalism and many of its Marxist and Marxist-inspired critics. The idea of intimate relationship between the industrial revolution and capitalism has led to various technological transformations. This is mostly hailed as a brilliant development although it has affected the environment adversely.
In the modern society, the rich dominate e-markets as they are lured by luxury and high profit margins. The poor, often employees of the rich, have very little money and cannot fit in the luxurious information age lifestyle.
During industrial revolution era, the poor were also unaccustomed to novelties and suspicious of them, unwilling to consume standardized goods and were concentrated in the rural areas or were able to access main industries.
While the poor were the majority of the population, even businessmen at this time paid little attention to them. Fashion industry only focused on the rich princesses hence peasants’ daughters could not afford. Why did the industrial revolution happen?
There is a lack of consensus on this question, but some scholars argue it on the basis of Britain’s ambition to control the world commerce. The leaders were aiming at ensuring that they maintain their economic growth and they would not have the drive to invest in sudden, massive, unpredictable increases in production.
The difference between capitalism and communism
The difference between the two is based on the economic and political ideologies. The main difference regards the means of production or resources. The community solely owns the means of production or resources in communism, while in a capitalistic economy, the resources are owned by private entities.
The profits from enterprises are, therefore, equally shared among the community members regardless of the level of an individual’s input in communism. However, capitalist society discourages sharing of profits. This gave the private entity owners ability to control resources in the capitalism society as they retained all the profits.
The communist ideologies failed in America due to the fact that Americans love freedom and believe in hard work. Communism encourages laziness among the citizens hence pulling back the economic growth. This study was initiated by Karl Marx who notes that Common Sense dictates; there must be production to guarantee consumption.
A car has to be produced through a process where the steel, durable plastics, rubber, glass and other requirements are assembled to come up with one unit of automobile. After the car has been made, people who need it can go to the factory and purchase it. This is how capitalism works in America as the buyer gets what he needs as per his ability to pay.
In a capitalist state, there are other processes that are meant to ensure the customer and the manufacturer get adequate value from the transactions. The main point to note from the above example is that capitalism can be broken down into production and consumption.
These two parts are so essential that none can exist on its own in a capitalistic society. Nothing can be consumed if production is missing in the equation. This law applies to extremely basic aspects of one’s human life. It is worth noting that one cannot eat without acquiring food, neither can we live in a house without having construction process undertaken.
Karl Marx had trouble with the production process in which he termed it to be benefiting the rich factory owner yet the poor workers lost. He felt the capitalist system was meant to benefit the rich owners at the disadvantage of the poor employees.
Marx observes that, in a modern society production process would happen among individuals with the aim of meeting the needs of the individuals in the society. Marx believes that, in production, men act on one another and not only to nature.
They produce by only cooperating in a certain way and hence exchanging their activities in a mutual manner. They entered into some definite connections with one another in order to produce goods and services. These connections are much based on mutual relations among individuals in the society.
Another scholar who had a different view from Marx was Adam Smith. The common factor of understanding among them is production. They all contended that production is key to economic growth.
Adam Smith, however, believed in a free trade society where any average person could start his own enterprise without governmental intervention and the consumers would willingly choose to purchase the goods from him (Culpin, 1997).
The price of the commodity he produces is determined by the demand and supply. This concept of free market was emphasized by the economist as the key factor that promotes growth of an economy in a capitalism setup (Culpin, 1997).
The connection between demand and supply that is inherent in the free market mechanism would allow for efficiency and natural flow of the market. The free market has the capacity to stay afloat if it is left to its own devices.
The free market has the capacity to fix errors on its own as compared to the communist counterparts. It ensures the economy returns to its equilibrium in case surpluses or shortages arise (Culpin, 1997). This point notes the reason why Marx’s idea of having central planners was wrong. The idea of central planning is hectic and burdensome in any market that occurs naturally.
References
Culpin, C. (1997). Making History. London: Collins Educational.
Waugh, S. (2001). Essential Modern World History. UK: Nelson Thornes.
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