Editing Industrial Revolution (section)

==Social effects==
{{Main|Life in Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution}}

The Industrial Revolution effectively asked the [[social question]], demanding new ideas for managing large groups. Visible poverty, growing population and materialistic wealth, caused tensions between the richest and poorest.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Case |first=Holly |date=November 2016 |title=THE "SOCIAL QUESTION," 1820–1920* |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-intellectual-history/article/abs/social-question-18201920/161912FA1234B9FE6185F59259DAB2D3 |journal=Modern Intellectual History |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=747–775 |doi=10.1017/S1479244315000037 |s2cid=143077444 |issn=1479-2443 |access-date=23 April 2023 |archive-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423220522/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-intellectual-history/article/abs/social-question-18201920/161912FA1234B9FE6185F59259DAB2D3 |url-status=live }}</ref> These tensions were sometimes violently released<ref>{{Citation |chapter=Devon's Classic Food Riots |date=2013-10-01 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674733251.c3/html |pages=27–68 |access-date=2023-04-23 |publisher=Harvard University Press |language=en |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674733251 |isbn=978-0-674-73325-1 |title=Riots and Community Politics in England and Wales, 1790–1810 |archive-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423223043/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674733251.c3/html |url-status=live |last1=Bohstedt |first1=John }}</ref> and led to philosophical ideas such as [[socialism]], [[communism]] and [[anarchism]].

===Factory system===
{{Main|Factory system}}
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most were employed in agriculture as self-employed farmers, tenants, [[Landlessness|landless]] agricultural labourers. It was common for families to spin yarn, weave cloth and make their clothing. Households also spun and wove for market production. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, India, China, and regions of Iraq and elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East produced most of the world's cotton cloth, while Europeans produced wool and linen goods.

In Great Britain in the 16th century, the [[putting-out system]] was practised, by which farmers and townspeople produced goods for a market in their homes, often described as ''cottage industry''. Merchant capitalists typically provided the raw materials, paid workers [[Piece work|by the piece]], and were responsible for sales. Embezzlement of supplies by workers and poor quality were common. The logistical effort in procuring and distributing raw materials and picking up finished goods were also limitations.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969"/>{{rp|57–59}}
[[File:Bomullsfabrik.jpg|thumb|Manchester cotton mill c. 1834]]
Some early spinning and weaving machinery, such as a 40 spindle jenny for about six pounds in 1792, was affordable for cottagers.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969"/>{{rp|59}} Later machinery such as spinning frames, spinning mules and power looms were expensive, giving rise to capitalist ownership of factories.

Most textile factory workers during the Industrial Revolution were unmarried women and children, including many orphans. They worked for 12–14 hours with only Sundays off. It was common for women to take factory jobs seasonally during slack periods of farm work. Lack of adequate transportation, long hours, and poor pay made it difficult to recruit and retain workers.<ref name="Beckert_2014"/> The change in the social relationship of the factory worker compared to farmers and cottagers was viewed unfavourably by [[Karl Marx]]; however, he recognized the increase in productivity from technology.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective |last1=Hunt|first1=E.K.|last2=Lautzenheiser|first2=Mark|year=2014|publisher =PHI Learning|isbn= 978-0-7656-2599-1}}</ref>

===Standards of living===
Some economists, such as [[Robert Lucas Jr.]], say the real effect of the Industrial Revolution was that "for the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth&nbsp;... Nothing remotely like this economic behaviour is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility."<ref name="Lectures on Economic Growth"/>

Others argue that while growth of the economy was unprecedented, [[Standard of living|living standards]] for most did not grow meaningfully until the late 19th century and workers' living standards declined under early capitalism. Some studies estimate that wages in Britain only increased 15% between the 1780s and 1850s and [[life expectancy]] did not dramatically increase until the 1870s.<ref name="Feinstein2014">{{cite journal|last=Feinstein|first=Charles|title=Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain during and after the Industrial Revolution|journal=Journal of Economic History|date=September 1998|volume=58|issue=3|pages=625–658|doi=10.1017/s0022050700021100|s2cid=54816980 }}</ref><ref name="SzreterMooney2014">{{cite journal|author=Szreter & Mooney|title=Urbanization, Mortality, and the Standard of Living Debate: New Estimates of the Expectation of Life at Birth in Nineteenth-Century British Cities|journal=The Economic History Review|date=February 1998|volume=51|issue=1|page=104|doi=10.1111/1468-0289.00084|last2=Mooney|hdl=10.1111/1468-0289.00084|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Average height declined during the Industrial Revolution, because nutrition was decreasing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Küchenhoff |first1=Helmut |date=2012 |title=The Diminution of Physical Stature of the British Male Population in the 18th-Century |url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/afc/cliome/v6y2012i1p45-62.html |journal=Cliometrica |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=45–62 |access-date=20 November 2018 |doi=10.1007/s11698-011-0070-7 |s2cid=154692462 |archive-date=25 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425223039/https://ideas.repec.org/a/afc/cliome/v6y2012i1p45-62.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Snowdon |first1=Brian |date=April–June 2005 |title=Measures of Progress and Other Tall Stories: From Income to Anthropometrics |url=https://www.worldeconomics.com/Journal/Papers/Measures%20of%20Progress%20and%20Other%20Tall%20Stories.details?ID=209 |journal=World Economics |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=87–136 |access-date=20 November 2018 |archive-date=26 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222933/https://www.worldeconomics.com/Journal/Papers/Measures%20of%20Progress%20and%20Other%20Tall%20Stories.details?ID=209 }}</ref> Life expectancy of children increased dramatically: the percentage of Londoners who died before the age of five decreased from 75% in 1730–49, to 32% in 1810–29.<ref name="Buer"/> The effects on living conditions have been controversial and were debated by historians from the 1950s to the 1980s.<ref name="Woodward81" /> Between 1813 and 1913, there was a significant increase in wages.<ref name="Trends in Real Wages in Britain, 1750–1913" /><ref name="hartwell" />

====Food and nutrition====
{{Main|British Agricultural Revolution}}
Chronic hunger and malnutrition were the norms for most, including in Britain and France, until the late 19th century. Until about 1750, malnutrition limited life expectancy in France to 35, and 40 in Britain. The US population was adequately fed, taller, and had a life expectancy of 45–50, though this slightly declined by the mid 19th century. Food consumption per person also declined during an episode known as the [[Antebellum Puzzle]].<ref name="The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100"/> Food supply in Great Britain was adversely affected by the [[Corn Laws]] (1815–46) which imposed tariffs on imported grain. The laws were enacted to keep prices high to benefit domestic producers. The Corn Laws were repealed in the early years of the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Irish Famine]].

The initial technologies of the Industrial Revolution, such as mechanized textiles, iron and coal, did little, if anything, to lower [[food prices]].<ref name="Pomeranz 2000">{{Citation |last=Pomeranz |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Pomeranz |title=The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-691-09010-8}}</ref> In Britain and the Netherlands, food supply increased before the Industrial Revolution with better agricultural practices; however, population grew as well.<ref name="David S. Landes 1969"/><ref name="Clark2007"/><ref>{{cite book
|title=An Essay on the Principle of Population
|last=Malthus
|first=Thomas
|year=1798
|location=London
|publisher=Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project
|url=http://www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf
|access-date=12 February 2016
|archive-date=21 April 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421101942/http://www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|title=The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention
 |last1=Temple
 |first1= Robert
|first2= Joseph|last2= Needham
|year= 1986|publisher = Simon and Schuster
|location=New York
| postscript = ,|ref={{harvid|Temple|1986}}}} based on the works of Joseph Needham.
</ref>

====Housing====
[[File:Dore London.jpg|thumb|Housing in London {{Circa|1870s}} by [[Gustave Doré]]]]
Rapid population growth included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centers such as [[Edinburgh]] and London.<ref>Gregory Clark, "Shelter from the storm: housing and the industrial revolution, 1550–1909". ''Journal of Economic History'' 62#2 (2002): 489–511.</ref> The critical factor was financing, which was handled by building societies that dealt directly with large contracting firms.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3825462|title = The Speculative Builders and Developers of Victorian London|journal = Victorian Studies|volume = 11|pages = 641–690|last1 = Dyos|first1 = H. J.|year = 1968}}</ref><ref>Christopher Powell, ''The British building industry since 1800: An economic history'' (Taylor & Francis, 1996).</ref> Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure, this was usually of advantage to tenants.<ref>P. Kemp, "Housing landlordism in late nineteenth-century Britain". ''Environment and Planning A'' 14.11 (1982): 1437–1447.</ref> People moved in so rapidly there was not enough capital to build adequate housing, so low-income newcomers squeezed into overcrowded [[slum]]s. [[Drinking water|Clean water]], [[sanitation]], and public health facilities were inadequate; the death rate was high, especially infant mortality, and [[tuberculosis]] among young adults. [[Cholera]] from polluted water and [[Typhoid fever|typhoid]] were endemic. Unlike rural areas, there were no famines such that which devastated Ireland in the 1840s.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3825891|title = The Slums of Victorian London|journal = Victorian Studies|volume = 11|issue = 1|pages = 5–40|last1 = Dyos|first1 = H. J.|year = 1967}}</ref><ref>Anthony S. Wohl, ''The eternal slum: housing and social policy in Victorian London'' (1977).</ref><ref>Martin J. Daunton, ''House and home in the Victorian city: working-class housing, 1850–1914'' (1983).</ref>

A large exposé literature grew up condemning the unhealthy conditions. The most famous publication was by a founder of the socialist movement. In ''[[The Condition of the Working Class in England]]'' in 1844, [[Friedrich Engels]] describes backstreets of Manchester and other mill towns, where people lived in shanties and shacks, some not enclosed, some with dirt floors. These [[shanty town]]s had narrow walkways between irregularly shaped lots and dwellings. There were no sanitary facilities. Population density was extremely high.<ref>Enid Gauldie, ''Cruel habitations: a history of working-class housing 1780–1918'' (Allen & Unwin, 1974)</ref> However, not everyone lived in such poor conditions. The Industrial Revolution created a middle class of businessmen, clerks, foremen, and engineers who lived in much better conditions.

Conditions improved over the 19th century with new public health acts regulating things such as sewage, hygiene, and home construction. In the introduction of his 1892 edition, Engels noted most of the conditions had greatly improved. For example, the [[Public Health Act 1875]] led to the more sanitary [[byelaw terraced house]].

====Water and sanitation====
Pre-industrial water supply relied on gravity systems, pumping water was done by water wheels, and wipes were made of wood. Steam-powered pumps and iron pipes allowed widespread piping of water to horse watering troughs and households.<ref name="Hunter_1985" />

Engels' book describes how untreated sewage created awful odours and turned the rivers green in industrial cities. In 1854 [[John Snow]] traced a cholera outbreak in [[Soho]], London to fecal contamination of a public water well by a home [[cesspit]]. Snow's finding that cholera could be spread by contaminated water took years to be accepted, but led to fundamental changes in the design of public water and waste systems.

===Literacy===
{{Further|Literacy}}
In the 18th century, there was relatively high literacy among farmers in England and Scotland. This permitted the recruitment of literate craftsmen, skilled workers, foremen, and managers who supervised textile factories and coal mines. Much of the labour was unskilled, and especially in textile mills children as young as eight proved useful in handling chores and adding to family income. Children were taken out of school to work alongside their parents in the factories. However, by the mid-19th century, unskilled labour forces were common in Western Europe, and British industry moved upscale, needing more engineers and skilled workers who could handle technical instructions and handle complex situations. Literacy was essential to be hired.<ref>Theodore S. Hamerow, ''The birth of a new Europe: State and society in the nineteenth century'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1989) pp. 148–174.</ref><ref>Robert Allan Houston, "The Development of Literacy: Northern England, 1640–1750." ''Economic History Review'' (1982) 35#2: 199–216 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2595015 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416095148/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2595015 |date=16 April 2021 }}.</ref> A senior government official told Parliament in 1870:
:Upon the speedy provision of elementary education depends are industrial prosperity. It is of no use trying to give technical teaching to our citizens without elementary education; uneducated labourers—and many of our labourers are utterly uneducated—are, for the most part, unskilled labourers, and if we leave our work–folk any longer unskilled, notwithstanding their strong sinews and determined energy, they will become overmatched in the competition of the world.<ref>Hamerow, p. 159.</ref>

The invention of the paper machine and the application of steam power to the industrial processes of [[printing]] supported a massive expansion of newspaper and pamphlet publishing, which contributed to rising literacy and demands for mass political participation.<ref>Henry Milner, ''Civic literacy: How informed citizens make democracy work'' (University Press of New England, 2002).</ref>

===Clothing and consumer goods===
[[File:BLW Tea and coffee service, Staffordshire.jpg|thumb|[[Wedgwood]] tea and coffee service]]
Consumers benefited from falling prices for clothing and household articles such as cast iron cooking utensils, and in the following decades, stoves for cooking and space heating. Coffee, tea, sugar, tobacco, and chocolate became affordable to many in Europe. The [[consumer revolution]] in England from the 17th to the mid-18th century had seen a marked increase in the consumption and variety of luxury goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds.<ref>Fairchilds, Cissie. "Review: Consumption in Early Modern Europe. A Review Article". ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', Vol. 35, No. 4. (October 1993), pp. 851.</ref> With improvements in transport and manufacturing technology, opportunities for buying and selling became faster and more efficient. The expanding textile trade in the north of England meant the three-piece suit became affordable to the masses.<ref name="Consumerism"/> Founded by potter and retail entrepreneur [[Josiah Wedgwood]] in 1759, [[Wedgwood]] fine china and porcelain [[tableware]] was became a common feature on dining tables.<ref name="Black"/> Rising prosperity and social mobility in the 18th century increased those with disposable income for consumption, and the marketing of goods for individuals, as opposed households, started to appear.<ref name="Black"/>

{{blockquote|With the rapid growth of towns and cities, shopping became an important part of everyday life. Window shopping and the purchase of goods became a cultural activity...and many exclusive shops were opened in elegant urban districts: in the Strand and Piccadilly in London, for example, and in spa towns such as Bath and Harrogate. Prosperity and expansion in manufacturing industries such as pottery and metalware increased consumer choice dramatically. Where once labourers ate from metal platters with wooden implements, ordinary workers now dined on Wedgwood porcelain. Consumers came to demand an array of new household goods and furnishings: metal knives and forks...rugs, carpets, mirrors, cooking ranges, pots, pans, watches, clocks, and a dizzying array of furniture. The age of [[mass consumption]] had arrived.|"[[Georgian era|Georgian Britain]], The rise of consumerism", Matthew White, [[British Library]].<ref name="Consumerism">{{cite news |title=The rise of consumerism |url=https://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/the-rise-of-consumerism |access-date=29 June 2021 |agency=British Library |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419170409/https://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/the-rise-of-consumerism }}</ref>}}

[[File:Winchester High Street Mudie 1853.jpg|thumb|[[Winchester]]'s High Street in 1853; the number of [[High Street]]s, the primary street for retail in Britain in towns and cities rapidly grew in the 18th century.]]
New businesses appeared in towns and cities throughout Britain. Confectionery was one such industry that saw rapid expansion. According to food historian [[Polly Russell]]: "chocolate and [[Biscuit#Confectionery biscuits|biscuits]] became products for the masses...By the mid-19th century, sweet biscuits were an affordable indulgence and business was booming. Manufacturers...transformed from small family-run businesses into state-of-the-art operations".<ref>{{cite news |title=History Cook: the rise of the chocolate biscuit |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5f890020-bba6-11e8-8274-55b72926558f |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/5f890020-bba6-11e8-8274-55b72926558f |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=23 August 2021 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> In 1847 [[J. S. Fry & Sons|Fry's]] of Bristol produced the first [[chocolate bar]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Mintz|first=Sidney|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=157}}</ref> Their competitor [[Cadbury]], of Birmingham, was the first to commercialize the association between confectionery and romance when they produced a heart-shaped box of chocolates for [[Valentine's Day]] in 1868.<ref>{{cite book |title=Guinness World Records 2017 |date=8 September 2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxAyDQAAQBAJ&q=cadbury+chocolate+boxes+1868&pg=PA90 |publisher=Guinness World Records |page=90 |isbn=978-1-910561-34-8 |access-date=3 September 2021 |archive-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324141123/https://books.google.com/books?id=hxAyDQAAQBAJ&q=cadbury+chocolate+boxes+1868&pg=PA90 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[department store]] became a common feature in major [[High Street]]s; one of the first was opened in 1796 by [[Harding, Howell & Co.]] on [[Pall Mall, London]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/bespoke/story/20150326-a-history-of-the-department-store/index.html|title=A history of the department store|website=BBC Culture|access-date=15 September 2019|archive-date=11 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811154701/https://www.bbc.com/culture/bespoke/story/20150326-a-history-of-the-department-store/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1860s, [[fish and chip]] shops to satisfy the needs of the growing industrial population.<ref>{{cite news |title=The History of Fish and Chips |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Fish-Chips/ |access-date=17 June 2024 |publisher=[[Historic England]] |archive-date=June 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608152727/https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Fish-Chips/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Hawker (trade)|street seller]]s were common in an increasingly [[Urbanization|urbanized]] country. "Crowds swarmed in every [[thoroughfare]]. Scores of street sellers 'cried' merchandise from place to place, advertising the wealth of goods and services on offer. Milkmaids, orange sellers, fishwives and piemen...walked the streets offering their various wares for sale, while knife grinders and the menders of broken chairs and furniture could be found on street corners".<ref>{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Matthew |title=The rise of cities in the 18th century |url=https://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/the-rise-of-cities-in-the-18th-century |access-date=3 April 2022 |agency=British Library |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522225623/https://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/the-rise-of-cities-in-the-18th-century }}</ref> A [[soft drink]]s company, [[R. White's Lemonade]], began in 1845 by selling drinks in London in a wheelbarrow.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kotler |first1=Philip |last2=Armstrong |first2=Gary |title=Principles of Marketing |date=2010 |publisher=Pearson Education |page=278}}</ref>

Increased literacy, industrialisation, and the railway created a market for cheap literature for the masses and the ability for it to be circulated on a large scale. [[Penny dreadful]]s were created in the 1830s to meet this demand,<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=E. S. |author-link=E. S. Turner |year=1975 |title=Boys Will be Boys |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-004116-3 |page=20}}</ref> "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young", and "the Victorian equivalent of video games".<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |title=Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |access-date=12 March 2019 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122215447/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |url-status=live }}</ref> By the 1860s and 70s more than one million boys' periodicals were sold per week.<ref name="Guardian"/> Labelled an "authorpreneur" by ''[[The Paris Review]]'', [[Charles Dickens]] used the innovations of the era to sell books: new printing presses, enhanced advertising revenues, and the railways.<ref name="Paris Review">{{cite news |title=The Sam Weller Bump |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/14/the-sam-weller-bump/ |access-date=27 June 2021 |magazine=The Paris Review |archive-date=2 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802164540/https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/04/14/the-sam-weller-bump/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His first novel, ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'' (1836), became a phenomenon, its unprecedented success sparking spin-offs and merchandise ranging from ''Pickwick'' cigars, playing cards, china figurines, [[Sam Weller (character)|Sam Weller]] puzzles, Weller boot polish and jokebooks.<ref name="Paris Review"/> Nicholas Dames in ''[[The Atlantic]]'' writes, "Literature" is not a big enough category for ''Pickwick''. It defined its own, a new one that we have learned to call "entertainment".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dames |first1=Nicholas |title=Was Dickens a Thief? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/06/was-dickens-a-thief/392072/ |access-date=27 June 2021 |magazine=The Atlantic |date=June 2015 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817111558/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/06/was-dickens-a-thief/392072/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Urbanisation of rural populations led to development of the [[music hall]] in the 1850s, with the newly created urban communities, cut off from their cultural roots, requiring new and readily accessible forms of entertainment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=H. |title=Leisure in the Industrial Revolution c. 1780-c. 1880 |date=1980 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |location=London |pages=164–70}}</ref>

In 1861, Welsh entrepreneur [[Pryce Pryce-Jones]] formed the first [[mail order]] business, an idea which changed [[retail]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=The mail-order pioneer who started a billion-pound industry |last=Shuttleworth |first=Peter |website=BBC News |date=25 December 2020 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55244397 |access-date=5 August 2021 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127002807/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55244397 |url-status=live }}</ref> Selling Welsh [[flannel]], he created catalogues, with customers able to order by mail for the first time{{mdash}}this following the [[Uniform Penny Post]] in 1840 and invention of the postage stamp ([[Penny Black]]) with a charge of one penny for carriage between any two places in the UK irrespective of distance{{mdash}}and the goods were delivered via the new railway system.<ref name="Mail order">{{cite news |title=Pryce-Jones: Pioneer of the Mail Order Industry |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/wales/w_mid/article_3.shtml |access-date=12 March 2019 |agency=BBC |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414141603/https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/wales/w_mid/article_3.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> As the railways expanded overseas, so did his business.<ref name="Mail order"/>

===Population increase===
The Industrial Revolution was the first time there was a simultaneous increase in population and per person income.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Industrial Revolution|last=Hudson|first= Pat|year=1992 |publisher =Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, Inc.
|location= New York|isbn= 978-0-7131-6531-9|page=3}}</ref> The [[Demographics of England|population of England]] and Wales, which had remained steady at six million in 1700–40, rose dramatically afterwards. England's population doubled from 8.3&nbsp;million in 1801 to 17&nbsp;million in 1850 and, by 1901, had doubled again to 31&nbsp;million.<ref name="statistics" /> Improved conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10&nbsp;million to 30&nbsp;million in the 19th century.<ref name="independent" /><ref name="bbc" /> Europe's population increased from 100&nbsp;million in 1700 to 400&nbsp;million by 1900.<ref name="britannica" />

Between 1815 and 1939, 20% of Europe's population left home, pushed by poverty, a rapidly growing population, and the displacement of peasant farming and artisan manufacturing. They were pulled abroad by the enormous demand for labour, ready availability of land, and cheap transportation. Many did not find a satisfactory life, leading 7&nbsp;million to return to Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cultures in Contact|last=Hoeder|first=Dirk|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2002|location=Durham, NC|pages=331–332}}</ref> This mass migration had large demographic effects: in 1800, less than 1% of the world population consisted of overseas Europeans and their descendants; by 1930, they represented 11%.<ref>{{Cite book|title=America in the World|last=Guarneri|first=Carl|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=2007|location=Boston|page=180}}</ref> The Americas felt the brunt of this huge emigration, largely concentrated in the US.

===Urbanization===
[[File:Griffiths' Guide to the iron trade of Great Britain an elaborate review of the iron (and) coal trades for last year, addresses and names of all ironmasters, with a list of blast furnaces, iron (14761790294).jpg|thumb|The [[Black Country]] west of [[Birmingham]], England]]
The growth of the industry since the late 18th century led to massive [[Urbanization|urbanisation]] and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe, then elsewhere, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. In 1800, only 3% of humans lived in cities,<ref name="prb"/> compared to 50% by 2000.<ref name="prb6"/> [[Manchester]] had a population of 10,000 in 1717, by 1911 it had burgeoned to 2.3&nbsp;million.<ref name="britannica7"/>

===Effect on women and family life===
Women's historians have debated the effect of the Industrial Revolution and capitalism on the status of women.<ref>Eleanor Amico, ed. ''Reader's guide to women's studies'' (1998) pp. 102–104, 306–308.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 178999|title = Women and Capitalism: Oppression or Emancipation? A Review Article|journal = Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume = 30|issue = 3|pages = 534–549|last1 = Thomas|first1 = Janet|year = 1988|doi = 10.1017/S001041750001536X|s2cid = 145599586}}</ref> Taking a pessimistic view, [[Alice Clark (historian)|Alice Clark]] argues that when capitalism arrived in 17th-century England, it lowered the status of women as they lost much of their economic importance. Clark argues that in 16th-century England, women were engaged in many aspects of industry and agriculture. The home was a central unit of production, and women played a vital role in running farms and some trades and landed estates. Their economic role gave them a sort of equality. However, Clark argues, as capitalism expanded, there was more division of labour with husbands taking paid labour jobs outside the home, and wives reduced to unpaid household work. Middle- and upper-class women were confined to an idle domestic existence, supervising servants; lower-class women were forced to take poorly paid jobs. Capitalism, therefore, had a negative effect on powerful women.<ref>Alice Clark, ''Working life of women in the seventeenth century'' (1919).</ref>

In a more positive interpretation, [[Ivy Pinchbeck]] argues capitalism created the conditions for women's emancipation.<ref>Ivy Pinchbeck, ''Women Workers in the Industrial Revolution'' (1930).</ref> Tilly and Scott have emphasised the continuity in the status of women, finding three stages in English history. In the pre-industrial era, production was mostly for home use, and women produced much of the needs of the households. The second stage was the "family wage economy" of early industrialisation; the entire family depended on the collective wages of its members, including husband, wife, and older children. The third, or modern, stage is the "family consumer economy", in which the family is the site of consumption, and women are employed in large numbers in retail and clerical jobs to support rising consumption.<ref>Louise Tilly and Joan Wallach Scott, ''Women, work, and family'' (1987).</ref>

Ideas of thrift and hard work characterised middle-class families as the Industrial Revolution swept Europe. These values were displayed in [[Samuel Smiles]]' book ''[[Self-Help (Smiles book)|Self-Help]]'', in which he states that the misery of the poorer classes was "voluntary and self-imposed—the results of idleness, thriftlessness, intemperance, and misconduct."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Thrift|last=Smiles|first=Samuel|publisher=John Murray|year=1875|location=London|pages=30–40}}</ref>

===Labour conditions===
====Social structure and working conditions====
Harsh working conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution. [[Pre-industrial society]] was very static and often cruel—[[child labour]], dirty living conditions, and long working hours were just as prevalent before the Industrial Revolution.<ref name="industrial4" />

The Industrial Revolution witnessed the triumph of a [[middle class]] of industrialists and businessmen over a landed class of nobility and gentry. Working people found increased opportunities for employment in mills and factories, but these were under strict working conditions with long hours dominated by a pace set by machines. As late as 1900, most US industrial workers worked 10-hour days, yet earned 20–40% less than that necessary for a decent life.<ref name="countrystudies"/> Most workers in textiles, which was the leading industry in terms of employment, were women and children.<ref name="Beckert_2014"/> For workers, industrial life "was a stony desert, which they had to make habitable by their own efforts."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day|last=Hobsbawm|first=Eric J.|publisher=Penguin|year=1969|isbn=978-1-56584-561-9|volume=3|location=Harmondsworth, England|page=65}}</ref>

====Factories and urbanisation====
[[File:Wyld, William - Manchester from Kersal Moor, with rustic figures and goats - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Cottonopolis]]'', an 1852 portrait of [[Manchester]]'s factory chimneys]]
Industrialisation led to the creation of the [[factory]]. The [[factory system]] contributed to the growth of urban areas as workers migrated into the cities in search of work in the factories. This was clearly illustrated in the mills and associated industries of Manchester, nicknamed "[[Cottonopolis]]", and the world's first industrial city.<ref name="Industrial city">{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp |title=Manchester – the first industrial city |publisher=Entry on Sciencemuseum website |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309184810/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp |archive-date=9 March 2012 }}</ref> Manchester experienced a six-times increase in population between 1771 and 1831. Bradford grew by 50% every ten years between 1811 and 1851, and by 1851 only 50% of its population were born there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/industrial-revolution/life-in-industrial-towns/|title=Life in Industrial Towns|website=History Learning Site|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503015043/https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/industrial-revolution/life-in-industrial-towns/|url-status=live}}</ref>

For much of the 19th century, production was done in small mills which were typically [[List of watermills in the United Kingdom|water-powered]] and built to serve local needs. Later, each factory would have its own steam engine and a chimney to give an efficient draft through its boiler. Some industrialists tried to improve factory and living conditions for their workers. One early reformer was [[Robert Owen]], known for his pioneering efforts in improving conditions for at the [[Robert Owen#Philanthropy in New Lanark (1800)|New Lanark mills]] and often regarded as a key thinker of the [[Utopian socialism|early socialist movement]].

By 1746 an integrated [[brass mill]] was working at [[Warmley]] near [[Bristol]]. Raw material was smelted into brass and turned into pans, pins, wire, and other goods. Housing was provided for workers on site. [[Josiah Wedgwood]] and [[Matthew Boulton]] were other prominent early industrialists who employed the factory system.

====Child labour====
{{see also|Child labour#The Industrial Revolution}}
[[File:coaltub.png|right|frame|A young "drawer" pulling a coal tub along a mine gallery.<ref name="From Coal Mine Upwards: or Seventy Years of an Eventful Life"/> In Britain, laws passed in 1842 and 1844 improved mine working conditions.]]

The chances of surviving childhood did not improve throughout the Industrial Revolution, although ''infant'' mortality rates were reduced markedly.<ref name="Buer"/><ref name="Demographic Transition and Industrial Revolution: A Macroeconomic Investigation"/> There was still limited opportunity for education, and children were expected to work. Child labour had existed before, but with the increase in population and education it became more visible. Many children were forced to work in bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders,<ref name="victorianweb"/> 10–20% of an adult male's wage,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Child Labor {{!}} History of Western Civilization II |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/child-labor/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com |archive-date=3 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103180822/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/child-labor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was new, there were no experienced adult labourers. This made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution, between the 18th and 19th centuries. In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were children.<ref name="galbithink"/>

Reports detailing some of the abuses, particularly in the mines<ref name="Testimony Gathered by Ashley's Mines Commission"/> and textile factories,<ref name="The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth-Century England"/> helped to popularise the children's plight. The outcry, especially among the upper and middle classes, helped stir change for the young workers' welfare. Politicians and the government tried to limit child labour by law, but factory owners resisted; some felt they were aiding the poor by giving their children money to buy food, others simply welcomed the cheap labour. In 1833 and 1844, the first general laws against child labour, the [[Factory Acts]], were passed in Britain: children younger than nine were not allowed to work, children were not permitted to work at night, and the working day for those under 18 was limited to 12 hours. Factory inspectors enforced the law; however, their scarcity made this difficult.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two steps forward, one step back - History of Occupational Safety and Health |url=https://www.historyofosh.org.uk/brief/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=www.historyofosh.org.uk |archive-date=3 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103180823/https://www.historyofosh.org.uk/brief/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A decade later, the employment of children and women in mining was forbidden. Although laws decreased child labourers, it remained significantly present in Europe and the US until the 20th century.<ref name="archives"/>

====Organisation of labour====
{{See also|Trade union#History}}
The Industrial Revolution concentrated labour into mills, factories, and mines, thus facilitating the organisation of ''combinations'' or [[trade union]]s advance the interests of working people. A union could demand better terms by withdrawing and halting production. Employers had to decide between giving in at a cost, or suffering the cost of the lost production. Skilled workers were difficult to replace, and these were the first to successfully advance their conditions through this kind of bargaining.

The main method unions used, and still use, to effect change was [[strike action]]. Many strikes were painful events for both unions and management. In Britain, the [[Combination Act 1799]] forbade workers to form any kind of trade union until its repeal in 1824. Even after this, unions were severely restricted. A British newspaper in 1834 described unions as "the most dangerous institutions that were ever permitted to take root, under shelter of law, in any country..."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Tolpuddle Martyrs|last=Evatt|first=Herbert|publisher=Sydney University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-586-03832-1|location=Sydney|page=49}}</ref>

The [[Reform Act 1832]] extended the vote in Britain, but did not grant [[universal suffrage]]. Six men from [[Tolpuddle]] in Dorset founded the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers to protest against the lowering of wages in the 1830s. They refused to work for less than ten shillings per week, by this time wages had been reduced to seven shillings and were to be reduced to six. In 1834 James Frampton, a local landowner, wrote to Prime Minister [[Viscount Melbourne|Lord Melbourne]] to complain about the union, invoking an obscure law from 1797 prohibiting people from swearing oaths to each other, which the members of the Society had done. Six men were arrested, found guilty, and [[Convicts in Australia|transported to Australia]]. They became known as the [[Tolpuddle Martyrs]]. In the 1830s and 40s, the [[Chartism|chartist]] movement was the first large-scale organised working-class political movement that campaigned for political equality and social justice. Its ''Charter'' of reforms received three million signatures, but was rejected by Parliament without consideration.

Working people formed [[Friendly society|friendly societies]] and [[cooperative]] societies as mutual support groups against times of economic hardship. Enlightened industrialists, such as Robert Owen supported these organisations to improve conditions. Unions slowly overcame the legal restrictions on the right to strike. In 1842, a [[general strike]] involving cotton workers and colliers was organised through the chartist movement which stopped production across Britain.<ref name="archive5" /> Eventually, effective political organisation for working people was achieved through trades unions who, after the extensions of the franchise in 1867 and 1885, began to support socialist political parties that later merged to become the British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].

====Luddites====
{{Main|Luddite}}
[[File:Luddite.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Engraving of ''Ned Ludd, Leader of the Luddites'', 1812]]
The rapid industrialisation of the English economy cost many craft workers their jobs. The Luddite movement started first with [[lace]] and [[hosiery]] workers near Nottingham, and spread to other areas of the textile industry. Many weavers found themselves suddenly unemployed as they could no longer compete with machines which required less skilled labour to produce more cloth than one weaver. Many such unemployed workers, weavers, and others turned their animosity towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery. These attackers became known as Luddites, supposedly followers of [[Ned Ludd]], a folklore figure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Byrne |first=Richard |date=August 2013 |title=A Nod to Ned Ludd |url=https://thebaffler.com/salvos/a-nod-to-ned-ludd |journal=[[The Baffler]] |volume=23 |issue=23 |pages=120–128 |access-date=2 August 2020 |doi=10.1162/BFLR_a_00183 |archive-date=9 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809111005/https://thebaffler.com/salvos/a-nod-to-ned-ludd |url-status=live }}</ref> The first attacks of the movement began in 1811. The Luddites rapidly gained popularity, and the Government took drastic measures using the militia or army to protect industry. Rioters who were caught were tried and hanged, or [[Penal transportation|transported]] for life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marsdenhistory.co.uk/people/luddites.html#link4 |title=Luddites in Marsden: Trials at York |access-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326170835/http://www.marsdenhistory.co.uk/people/luddites.html |archive-date=26 March 2012}}</ref>

Unrest continued in other sectors as they industrialised, such as with agricultural labourers in the 1830s when large parts of southern Britain were affected by the [[Captain Swing]] disturbances. Threshing machines were a particular target, and [[hay]]rick burning was a popular activity. The riots led to the first formation of trade unions and further pressure for reform.

====Shift in production's centre of gravity====
The traditional centres of hand textile production such as India, the Middle East, and China could not withstand competition from machine-made textiles, which destroyed the hand-made textile industries and left millions without work, many of whom starved.<ref name="Beckert_2014"/> The Industrial Revolution generated an enormous and unprecedented economic division in the world, as measured by the share of manufacturing output.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Share of total world manufacturing output (percentage)<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers|last=Kennedy|first=Paul|publisher=Random House|year=1987|location=New York|page=149}}</ref>
!
!1750
!1800
!1860
!1880
!1900
|-
|Europe
|23.2
|28.1
|53.2
|61.3
|62.0
|-
|United States
|0.1
|0.8
|7.2
|14.7
|23.6
|-
|Japan
|3.8
|3.5
|2.6
|2.4
|2.4
|-
|Rest of the world
|73.0
|67.7
|36.6
|20.9
|11.0
|}

====Cotton and the expansion of slavery====
Cheap cotton textiles increased demand for raw cotton; previously, it had primarily been consumed in subtropical regions where it was grown, with little raw cotton available for export. Consequently, prices of raw cotton rose. British production grew from 2 million pounds in 1700 to 5 million in 1781 to 56 million in 1800.<ref>Beckert, p. 86.</ref> The invention of the cotton gin by American Eli Whitney in 1792 was the decisive event. It allowed green-seeded cotton to become profitable, leading to the widespread growth of slave [[plantation]]s in the US, Brazil, and the West Indies. In 1791, American cotton production was 2 million pounds, soaring to 35 million by 1800, half of which was exported. America's [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|cotton plantations]] were highly efficient, profitable and able to keep up with demand.<ref>{{cite book|title= Empire of Cotton: A Global History|last=Beckert
|first= Sven|year= 2014|publisher =Vintage Books Division Penguin Random House |page=103}}</ref> The U.S. Civil War created a "cotton famine" that led to increased production in other areas of the world, including [[Colonisation of Africa|European colonies in Africa]].<ref>Ronald Bailey, "The other side of slavery: Black labor, cotton, and textile industrialization in Great Britain and the United States." ''Agricultural History'' 68.2 (1994): 35–50.</ref>

===Effect on environment===
[[File:StRolloxChemical 1831.jpg|thumb|Levels of air pollution rose during the Industrial Revolution, sparking the first modern environmental laws to be passed in the mid-19th century.]]
The origins of the [[environmental movement]] lay in the response to increasing levels of smoke pollution during the Industrial Revolution. The emergence of great factories and the linked immense growth in [[history of coal mining|coal consumption]] gave rise to an unprecedented level of [[air pollution]] in industrial centres; after 1900 the large volume of industrial chemical discharges added to the growing load of [[Industrial waste|untreated human waste]].<ref name="Donora">{{cite web |url=http://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/ |title=History of the Clean Air Act |access-date=14 February 2006 |first1=James R. |last1=Fleming |first2=Bethany R. |last2=Knorr |publisher=American Meteorological Society |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610133251/http://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first large-scale, modern environmental laws came in the form of Britain's [[Alkali Act 1863]], to regulate the air pollution given off by the Leblanc process used to produce soda ash. Alkali inspectors were appointed to curb this pollution.

The manufactured gas industry began in British cities in 1812–20. This produced highly toxic effluent dumped into sewers and rivers. The gas companies were repeatedly sued in nuisance lawsuits. They usually lost and modified the worst practices. The City of London indicted gas companies in the 1820s for polluting the Thames, poisoning its fish. Parliament wrote company charters to regulate toxicity.<ref>Leslie Tomory, "The Environmental History of the Early British Gas Industry, 1812–1830." ''Environmental history'' 17#1 (2012): 29–54.</ref> The industry reached the U.S. around 1850 causing pollution and lawsuits.<ref>Joel A. Tarr, "Toxic Legacy: The Environmental Impact of the Manufactured Gas Industry in the United States." ''Technology and culture'' 55#1 (2014): 107–147. [http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=history online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019143436/http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=history |date=19 October 2017 }}</ref>

In industrial cities local experts and reformers, especially after 1890, took the lead in identifying environmental degradation and pollution, and initiating grass-roots movements to achieve reforms.<ref>Harold L. Platt, ''Shock cities: the environmental transformation and reform of Manchester and Chicago'' (2005) [https://www.amazon.com/Shock-Cities-Environmental-Transformation-Manchester/dp/0226670767/  excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315054853/https://www.amazon.com/Shock-Cities-Environmental-Transformation-Manchester/dp/0226670767/ |date=15 March 2021 }}.</ref> Typically the highest priority went to water and air pollution. The [[Environmental Protection UK|Coal Smoke Abatement Society]] was formed in Britain in 1898. It was founded by artist [[William Blake Richmond]], frustrated with the pall cast by coal smoke. Although there were earlier pieces of legislation, the [[Public Health Act 1875]] required all furnaces and fireplaces to consume their smoke. It provided for sanctions against factories that emitted large amounts of black smoke.<ref>Brian William Clapp, ''An environmental history of Britain since the industrial revolution'' (Routledge, 2014).</ref>