CLASS STRUCTURE

• What are the two classes that were most impacted by industrialization and what was the impact?


  • the proletariats
  • the bourgeoisie 
  • impact: people began to feel an affinity between themselves and other people living similar lives, even if they were from different communities and different areas
• What is class consciousness?

  • when people believe they belong to a specific social and economic group
• What does it mean to say that class is a social construct?


  • that the ideas of a social class are created by society rather than having any genetic or physical relationship 
• What was life like for the urban proletariat in the Long Nineteenth Century?


  • they were poor. they had to work under a lot of poor conditions. it felt as if the government only used them rather than truly helping them when those poor conditions made them sick and potentially leading them to death
• What was life like for the bourgeoisie in the Long Nineteenth Century?

  • they were rich and benefitted off of the rise in national incomes that came with more industrialization
  • bankers, merchants, capitalists and factory owners could afford to buy all of the new industrial goods that factories were producing
• What did Karl Marx believe was the natural relationship between the classes, and what did he argue would eventually happen?

  • He believed that history was just a sequence of class struggles over economic wealth. The upper classes always oppressed the poorer working classes
  • Marx thought the future would bring a fight with the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and the upper classes
  • Marx believed that the workers would eventually succeed in overthrowing the bourgeoisie, just like the French revolutionaries had overthrown the French monarchy decades earlier
• How did the middle classes come to view the working classes, and how did that shape their view of themselves?

  • they started to believe the working class was at their own fault for their disadvantages. this made the middle class think of themselves as higher because they had the privelge and lavish lifestyle that the workers didnt
• How did the Marx's ideas enter politics in 1750-1900?

  • Many workers formed unions that worked together to effect change through strikes and collective bargaining
  • New political parties were formed to address working-class issues. Those included many socialist parties in nations across Europe, who were influenced by Marxist ideas
• Industrialization


  • Caused change in existing hierarchies
  • Caused change in standards of living
• Economic Shifts due to Industrialization


  1. Rise of factory-based production

  2. Urbanization

  3. Transformation of traditional agrarian societies into industrial economies

  4. Creation of new economic classes (bourgeoisie and proletariat)

  5. Alteration of social hierarchy
• Industrialization


  • Concentrated wealth in the hands of industrialists and entrepreneurs
  • Led to the emergence of a wealthy capitalist class
  • Many workers faced harsh working conditions and low wages
  • Exacerbated income inequality
• Social Mobility due to Industrialization

  • Provided opportunities for upward mobility for some individuals
  • Created a growing underclass of urban poor who struggled to improve their living standards
• Urbanization due to Industrialization


  1. Migration of rural populations to urban centers in search of employment opportunities

  2. Resulted in overcrowded cities with inadequate housing, sanitation, and public services

  3. Led to the formation of slums

  4. Heightened social tensions
• Industrialization


  • Brought technological advancements and increased material wealth for some
  • Introduced new challenges such as poor working conditions, pollution, and health hazards
  • Overall standard of living improved in the long term as it spurred economic growth and technological innovation
  • Progress was unevenly distributed across society
• • One misfortune, like losing a job or getting sick, could mean urban proletariats lost their ability to provide for their families or themselves
  • ex: the disease cholera 
• • cholera incident
  • in the 1830s through the 1850s hundreds of thousands in Russia, France, and Great Britain were killed by a water-borne disease called cholera
  • Workers received no protections from the government or their employers and many believed they could never advance in the world
• • The bourgeoisie, consisting of professionals and business owners, gained wealth and influence during the Industrial Revolution
• • Burgeoisise embraced a lifestyle of leisure activities, fine dining, and entertainment, imitating upper-class norms
• • The middle class developed a strict moral code emphasizing self-discipline, hard work, and personal achievement, while blaming the poor for their disadvantages
• • Urban working class developed sub-classes based on skill level, with highly skilled workers adopting middle-class morality to appear higher in social status
• • Class structures changed significantly by the onset of World War I, with the bourgeoisie expanding and gaining influence, while the proletariat slowly gained political power but still suffered from income inequality
• • The income gap between classes would play a significant role in shaping global events during this period