How Industrialization That Negatively Affected American Life

Developments of Industrialization that negatively affected American lives The setting up of big factories especially in the urban regions was a major development resulting from the introduction of industrialization. Although the factories and manufacturing plants had economic value to the nation as a whole, there were also numerous negative and dire impacts of the factories on the lives of the American people and the environment. For starters, many factories and manufacturing plants that were established during the industrial revolution period were not conscious on the impact of emission and disposal of harmful substances into the environment. In fact during this time, there were few if any existing laws and policies on the use of resources and the disposal of waste materials. As a result, the air was immensely polluted by gas emissions from factories. Soil and water were also contaminated as waste materials and harmful chemicals were
With the rise in number of factories and manufacturing plants, there were numerous labor opportunities for the large number of people from the rural areas. However, with little regulation on employment, exploitation became a major theme during this period. Workers were subjected to low wages, long working hours, harsh and harmful working conditions and children below the working age were spending their lives in mines rather than in schools or at home. The situation was quite unfavorable and many workers died in the line of duty with some sustaining permanent injuries with no compensation. Nobody really cared about the welfare of the workers and instead of workers improving their lives, they only became poorer. The poverty gap between the rich, who were business people and factory owners and the poor working class broadened during this period (Komlos,