Social and Economic Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

New Social Classes

• Bourgeoisie:
  • High bourgeoisie: Business owners, bankers, and large landowners who formed the ruling class.
  • Middle bourgeoisie: Professionals (lawyers, doctors), civil servants, and merchants.
  • Petty bourgeoisie: Employees, shopkeepers, and artisans whose living conditions scarcely differed from those of the proletariat.

The proletariat (workers) were the most disadvantaged social group. They provided the labor force required to operate machinery and were subjected to harsh discipline, where punishments and penalties were common. The first workers to protest against industrialization were the Luddites (England, early 19th century), who destroyed machinery in the belief that it was responsible for low wages and unemployment.

Relief societies acted as resistance groups and helped workers in the event of illness or unemployment. The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union (1834) represented a different type of worker organization that defended the right of association to reduce the working day, improve wages, and regulate child labor.

New Social Solutions

• Utopian Socialists: Suggested that private property was the main cause of inequality and proposed forms of collective ownership.
• Revolutionary Movements: Aimed to end capitalism and build an egalitarian society:
  • Anarchism: Based on the ideas of Bakunin and Kropotkin, it emphasizes individual freedom and social solidarity while opposing elections and political parties.
  • Marxism: A collaboration between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that denounced the exploitation of workers and advocated for a revolution to destroy capitalism. It consists of two phases: 1) the dictatorship of the proletariat and 2) communism.
• Catholic Church: In 1890, Pope Leo XIII proposed the need to improve the living conditions of workers by enacting social laws.

The Birth of Capitalism

Capitalism emerged as an industrial system where production is privately owned:

• Development of banks: Institutions multiplied and diversified.
• Joint-stock companies: The need for capital led to the creation of public limited companies where capital is divided into shares.
• Free trade: The promotion of no state intervention in international trade.