Positive Aspects Compared to the Negative Aspects of the Industrial Revolution Essay Example

The era known as the Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes occurred in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies and the social structure in England. It is almost impossible to imagine what the world would be like if the effects of the Industrial Revolution were swept away. Electric lights would go out. Automobiles and airplanes would vanish. Telephones, radios, and television would disappear. Most of the stocks on the shelves of department stores would be gone. Over the course of a century, Britain went from a largely rural, agrarian population to a country of industrialized towns, factories, mines and workshops. Britain was, in fact, already beginning to develop a manufacturing industry during the beginning years of the early 18th century, but it was from the 1730's that its growth accelerated. Although some parts of the Industrial Revolution can be seen as ghastly and negative, the majority, including the final outcome, of the Revolution was unimaginably good for the country of Britain. The Industrial Revolution was a positive era in Britain’s history. However, initially, the Industrial Revolution appeared to bring no benefits at all to the country. The factories subjected men, women, and even child labourers to low wages, harsh punishments, and unprotected work around machinery. Food and medicine was expensive for poor factory workers, and thus they could only afford to eat an unhealthy diet which contributed to the extreme malnutrition and sickness in the cities. During the early years of the revolution, child workers were very common in factories across Britain. Children as young as five and six years old worked for twelve to sixteen hours a day, six days a week without breaks for meals.(Marx 1909) These children would be forced to work in hot, stuffy, poorly lit, overcrowded factories to earn as little as four shillings a week. The demand for child labour was so great that it led to many