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Two revolutions took place, both exulting in productive but also dire consequences. Before the first industrial revolution, England’s economy was based on its cottage industry. Workers would buy raw materials from merchants, take it back to their cottages, hence the name, and produce the goods at their home. It was usually was owned and managed by one or more people, who were generally close to the workers. There was a good worker/boss relationship, which was demolished and destroyed by capitalism. This industry was efficient but the workers, productivity was low, making costs higher.
The longer it took one person to manufacture a product, the higher the price. Subsequently, goods were high in price and exclusive only to the wealthy people. By the sass’s, the industrial Revolution had begun. At first, inventions were strictly limited to cotton weaving. Inventions such as the spinning jenny and the water-powered frame, both of which provided spinning yarn faster, the spinning mule, the power loom and the cotton gin, all helped the manufacture of cotton goods by speeding up the process.
Mass production had begun, along with capitalism. Capitalist, people who have their own materials, money and space, bought any machines and stored them in a factory, where hired people worked the whole day manufacturing goods. The factory system had replaced the cottage industry. Mass production made usually expensive items, such as shoes, less expensive and easily affordable by lower class and less wealthy people. The quality of life had improved. In the sass’s, inventions weren’t just limited to the cotton industry.
Steam engines were invented, providing a faster mode of transportation, instead of the use of horses and carriages. With steam engines, cities were able to move farther away from rivers and sources of eater, to start cities. The second Industrial revolution proved more drastic, not only in inventions, but in social and government policies and reforms. Art and culture flourished and was transformed into many different and unique styles. The first industrial revolution had forever changed England, and later the world.
England was now ready for another change, as life with machinery had already been assimilated into society. Life was drastically changed during the industrial revolution. People were living in germ infested, crowded and very unhealthy conditions, much like their place of work. Children and women Barbour in harsh conditions, working long hours with little pay. The British Parliament stepped in and limited and controlled child labor. This sparked a rebellion.
People, especially wealthy capitalists, wanted the government to stay out of its issues, called the laissez-fairer system. Many people opposed the laissez-fairer system, saying the capitalists would gain too much power and people would be mistreated. The laissez-fairer system was disregarded after a few years. Art changed with the different ideas of social Darwinism, the laissez-fairer system and the industrial revolution. Romanticism painted motions that they had no control over, such as love, religion, and beauty.
It showed more of how people look at one moment in time. Realism tried to capture what was really happening, all the sadness and tried to make people work to change what was happening. Socialists were reformers who wanted to construct a better life for all people. Among them, Robert Owen, an owner of a textile mill, whose reforms reshaped the working class. He raised pay, improved working conditions, and didn’t allow children under 11 to work. Directly related to Owens reforms, crime and disease rates dropped and life improved.