Child Labor In The 19th Century Industrial Revolution

Child labor is a prominent issue that is seen as nations undergo industrialization and can be seen in Europe’s industrial revolution and even todays countries. Europe’s 19th century industrial revolution was a period of time where efficiency was key and the economy was flourishing due to cheap labor of children and adults. In this society, most kids only have to worry about going to school. This is due to the fact that societies have underwent development and only strive for further progress. However, to achieve such a foundation requires much labor and effort. A consequence of this can be seen in Europe in times of industrialization where use of children in rigorous work was the norm. Although most nations have restructured their views of child labor, nations, such as Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan that are undergoing development are going through the same cycle of using children even now in the 21st century.
Europe Industrial Revolution: Child Labor For one to understand why using young children for such harsh work was the norm, we must look as to why it was okay for kids to work. The idea of children labor was the norm back then due to families needing their children to work. Many children assisted their families in
The use of children was advantageous to the profits of the factory owners because they would neglect to pay them anything and if they were paid it would be a very little sum (Child Labor in Factories). Many of these children were worked to their bone and had two segments of half-hour breaks. At times some may work 15 hours a day. They were able to do this because the families were desperate and because unions were not yet created (“Patterns of Interaction” 724). The parents would not complain because they needed the money to survive and the children had no say. Another reason children were kept is because they had smaller hands which made for much more efficiency in the