GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• 1. How did the Industrial Revolution change family structures in Britain?

  • Transition from extended family networks to nuclear families
  • Increased migration to cities for factory work disrupted rural communities
  • Single-parent households became more common, often led by mothers
  • Loss of traditional support systems led to poverty and homelessness for many
• Women's roles


  • Shifted from home-based to factory-based work, primarily in textiles
• Children


  • Extensively employed in factories, with estimates suggesting up to 15% of the industrial workforce in England were children
• Women and children in factories


  • Faced harsh working conditions, long hours, and low wages
• Factory labor for women


  Provided some income but did not significantly improve their financial status due to low wages and limited opportunities for advancement
• Factory labor for children

  Did not necessarily benefit them as they were subjected to exploitation, poor living conditions, and lack of education
• Benefits/Opportunities of the Industrial Revolution in Britain


  • Employment opportunities in factories, mines, and railways
  • Economic growth through industrialization, increased production, and growth of industries
  • Technological advancements improving efficiency and productivity
  • Urbanization and growth of urban centers
  • Improvements in living standards despite harsh working conditions
• 1. How did the Industrial Revolution affect the daily lives and labor of people outside of Europe such as enslaved Africans or colonial subjects?

  • Enslaved Africans: The Industrial Revolution increased demand for raw materials such as cotton and sugar, leading to the expansion of slave-based economies in colonies like the Caribbean and the Americas
  • Colonial Subjects: Colonial subjects were often exploited for labor and resources to fuel European industrialization. Their lives were affected by forced labor, displacement, and economic exploitation to serve European colonial interests
• Industrial Revolution

  Global transformation that had a profound impact, shaping economic systems, ideologies, and institutions worldwide
• Industrial Revolution

  Contributed to the rise of capitalism as industrialization fueled economic growth, market expansion, and the accumulation of wealth
• industrialization influenced the development of liberal and socialist ideologies, as debates arose over the distribution of wealth, labor rights, and the role of government
• Industrialization


  Led to the establishment of new economic systems, such as industrial capitalism, and the transformation of existing institutions like labor laws and social welfare systems
• The global spread of industrialization from 1750 to 1900 reshaped economies, societies, and political landscapes, setting the stage for modernization and globalization
• • Engels' Analysis Beyond Economics:
  • Highlights impact on communities and culture
  • Disruption of rural life by mass migration to cities for factory work.
  • Shift from extended family support to nuclear families, often led by single parents
• • Impact on Family and Community:

  • Loss of stability due to breakdown of extended family networks
  • Urban families lacked support systems, leading to poverty and homelessness
• • Children in Industrialization:

  • Over a million child laborers in early 19th-century England
  • Many children from orphanages ended up in workhouses
  • Up to 15% of England's industrial workforce were children
  • Some children worked for food and shelter without pay 
• • Changes in Women's Roles:

  • Industrialization moved production out of the home
  • Women's work remained largely unchanged, but the location shifted
  • Limited opportunities for women to improve financial status outside factories
  • Married women often left the workforce due to societal pressure or lack of alternative opportunities
• • urban wage labor provided a chance at social mobility and financial freedoms
• • unfair conditions created reformers
• • Reformers fought for a minimum wage, safe working conditions, and an eight-hour work day, among other causes
• • reforms in britain often did not spread to the colonized world, where Britain was putting lots of people to work extracting raw materials
• • wheat, sugar, copper = big 3
• • Europeans introduced sugarcane to the Caribbean from Southeast Asia, where they forced enslaved people to harvest and refine sugar
• • The demand for sugar grew, but the British outlawed the slave trade in the early 19th century, leading to a decline in profitability for Caribbean sugar plantations
• • European colonizers and financiers shifted their focus to Southeast Asia, particularly the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), where they forced local populations to produce sugar on an industrial scale
• • This shift devastated Caribbean societies reliant on sugar production, as the rise of industrial sugar production in Southeast Asia led to a decrease in sugar prices and undermined the Caribbean economies that depended on cash crops like sugar for global trade
• • Wheat became crucial for feeding English wage laborers during the Industrial Revolution
• • Soaring bread prices in Britain led to unrest, prompting efforts to import more wheat globally
• • British efforts to secure cheap wheat led to transformations in wheat-producing regions like Russia, Argentina, and California
• • British capitalists funded infrastructure projects such as railroads in southern Russia, facilitating the transportation of Russian wheat to British ports
• • In Argentina, British financiers supported the development of railroads and ports, turning subsistence farms into industrial wheat farms
• • California's wheat exports, transported from San Francisco to Liverpool, England, contributed to the region's transformation, with gold miners transitioning to wheat farming and vast areas of land converted into wheat fields
• • metal ore was smelted near the mines where it was extracted
• • Industrialization changed this pattern
  • Swansea, Wales, historically a center for copper smelting, began importing copper ore from around the world due to advancements like steamships
• • By 1830, Swansea had become a hub for a global copper network, importing ore from various continents
• • By the mid-19th century, Swansea produced 50% of the world's copper
• • Global copper network involved various laborers and stakeholders from enslaved Africans to Indigenous Americans, Chinese indentured laborers, financiers from Britain and India, and sailors from diverse backgrounds
  • Connected to satisfy Britain's demand for copper
• • Copper was essential for industries beyond mining, such as sugar and wheat
• • Copper components were crucial for steam engines used in transporting sugar and wheat globally.
• • Copper vats were vital for sugar refining