Industrial Revolution

The labor force
Of the Industrial Revolution
(XVIIIth to the XIXth century)

Contents………………………………………………………………………………………...pg.1
Introduction (Historical context of the Industrial Revolution, objectives and methology).pg.2
Labor Force……………………………………………………………………………………..pg.3
The living and working conditions of the workers…………………………………………..pg.4
The consequences of the Industrial Revolution inthe social aspects…………………….pg.5
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………pg.6
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….……pg.7 & pg.8
 
 

Introduction:
      The Industrial Revolution, which occurred from the XVIIIth to the XIXth century, consists on a drastic change in the economic system and methods used for production. It all began with another revolution but on the fields ofagriculture in the 1700's. It consisted of new ways of new ways of planting and growing crops. This took place in Great Britain’s countryside. in the farms the population had a significant growth and therefore, a need of more food. As a result, there was a shift from an economy based only on farming, that used the help of animals and handcrafts that as the word tells us were done by hand and simpletools, to an economy based on manufacturing by machines and industrial factories that led to the Industrial Revolution. People began to travel or move from farms in the county side to the cities to work in the search of better life conditions and therefore a better future. However, all what the workers expected in the cities were in fact only illusions, what really happened was the opposite of whatthey dreamed about.
      This year in our social studies class we had to investigate in the social aspects of this revolution, specifically in the fields of the labor force used in the industrial factories. To develop our project we are going to work with these three objectives:
* Investigate about the labor force (who were they)
* Describe the living and working conditions of the workers* What where the consequences to the proletariat's problems.
In our social studies cases we have been studying our topic and the industrial revolution, with the help of the materials given in school, such us notes written in our notebooks, and our history book. We also have been investigating about our theme in the internet, and thanks to that we had found a lot of relevant information aboutour theme, the labor force. On the other hand we have talked with persons that will help us to organize and develop our ideas, like our social studies teacher. At the same time we will be given time to organize in our group and which group member is going to do a certain part of the project and begin to do it.
Body:
Labor force
The majority of the people that made up the labor force camefrom the countryside to the cities to live a better life. The urbanization took place because of the improvement in the life standards and growth of the population so there was more labor force for industries. People that where once farmers, now where the employees of the capitalists that obtained their money from the commercial activity of agriculture and commerce, in order to develop thefactories. They became the base of the industrial factories.
As the Industrial Revolution led to an increase of the population, there were more men, however, they were not enough to maintain a whole factory. There were still limited chances to get education; therefore, children were expected to work. Although  a child's productivity was comparable to the productivity of an adult, employers couldpay them less. So it was better to have children working in the factories because they were cheaper. In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were described as children. Children worked in all kinds of environment like mines, cotton mills, textile factories, match factories, etc. Even though some children received around 10 to 20% of an adults...