Why Britain First? Thats one of the questions we will consider this week as we look at the Industrial Revolution, which, together with the French Revolution, transformed the West (the whole world, really). Introducing men and women to the machine, the industrial revolution transformed the way we work and the way we live. In Britain, a new source of fuel (coal) was combined with the innovative invention, and what transpired blew the lid off of the 19th century. We, and the environment I might add, are still reeling from the effects today. But lets start with England where the Industrial Revolution inspired not only a new way of working but, for better or worse, a new class system. There were still the very rich and the very poor (and this can be seen in the gritty writing of Englanders like Charles Dickens and Friedrich Engels), but there was also, as in the French Revolution, an emergent middle class. So we see the formation of both the working class (the proletariat) and the middle class (bourgeoisie), which according to early socio
logists Karl Marx and Engels were in conflict with one another. An offshoot of this was basically a new political economy and a whole lot of relatively new -isms (capitalism, liberalism, feminism, socialism, communism, even Darwinism would play into this). Many of these were reactions to the new industrialism, (which, as you can see, I am encouraging you to think of as a twin to the French Revolution), in terms of the changes wrought on Europe and its many colonies all over the world. And many of the -isms are still alive and well. The impact on the world brought about by the industrial revolution cannot be underestimated.What was the life of a factory operative at a textile factory in Lowell, Mass. like? Do a little research and tell me why women predominantly worked in factories such as these in the United States and England. How did the factory operative feel that changes in working conditions might come about? Must be 250 words or more.References:Western Civilization A Brief History, vol. II Since 1600. Eleventh Editionlondonessays.com