Question

With reference to the rise of Capitalism, answer the following question:

What was the impact of Capitalism on the working class?

Answer 1

1. Loss of Traditional Jobs: The movement of people away from agriculture and into industrial cities brought great stress on the labour force. Women in households, who had earned income from spinning, found the new factories taking away their source of income. Traditional handloom weavers could no longer compete with the mechanised production of cloth.
2. Exploitation: In the factories, people had to work long hours under harsh conditions, often with few rewards. Factory owners and managers paid the minimum amount necessary for a workforce, often recruiting women and children to tend the machines because they could be hired for very low wages.
3. Stress and Strain: The nature of work changed as a result of the division of labour. This idea in the Industrial Revolution called for dividing the production process into basic, individual tasks. Each worker would then perform one task, rather than a single worker doing the entire job. Such division of labour greatly improved productivity, but many of the simplified factory jobs were repetitive and boring. Workers also had to labour for more than 12 hours a day, sometimes more than 14, and people worked six days a week. Factory workers faced strict rules and close supervision by managers and overseers. The clock ruled life in the mills.
4. Overcrowding: By about the 1820s, income levels for most workers began to improve. The economy was expanding at a rate that was more than twice the pace at which it had grown before the Industrial Revolution. Although vast differences existed between the rich and the poor, most of the population enjoyed some of the fruits of economic growth.