Social Changes During The Victorian Era

The Victorian Era was a time of great economic, social, and political changes. Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1876 and this time was known as the Victorian Era. She ruled during a time when people disliked royalty about how they governed their land, but she is still credited with bringing respect back to the throne. Many of the things that changed for people during the Victorian Era is still prevalent today in the daily life, social class, and working life. First, daily life was an aspect that made the Victorian Era greatly stand out from other times in human history. Foods that were relied on heavily were ones that were in season and available locally. Refrigerators were not around and people, during this time, had to rely …show more content…
Most Victorians believed that the society was three-tiered: working class (visible work), middle class (clean work), upper class (did not work for money). In the strictest legal sense, there were two classes; aristocrats and commoners. The different classes lived in separate areas and observed different social customs. Although one of the aiding factors, money did not determine social class. Social class was determined in terms of manners, speech, clothing, education, and values. The Industrial Revolution was the most important event leading up to the Victorian Era. This event caused the middle class to grow in size and importance. The invention of new technologies brought a lot of riches to the middle class but not quite the level of the upper class. The tremendous expansion of the middle class created a huge demand for foods, goods, and services. This lead to more jobs and even more riches to the middle class and some wealth to the lower class. Newly rich of the middle class bought new clothes, toys for children, fine cutlery, silverware, dinner and tea services, and plate glass.The newly rich also required a never-ending supply of novelties from the country’s factories and workshops. Within the middle class, highest social standings made you a professional. The upper class, or elite class, was the richest of the rich. It is made up of fewer than 1,500 families drawn …show more content…
Industrialization brought rapid changes that affected everybody in their everyday life. This revolution in technology greatly benefitted a segment of the population with new technologies. Moreover, poorer people still had to work in mills, mines, factories, and docks. They worked in cramped quarters with ongoing pollution. Child labor was thought of as a good idea during these times and children had to work in coal mines to help provide for their families, especially the poorer ones. They worked with coal as steam was the most used sources of energy and people had to burn a lot of coal in order to get it. Kids worked 12 to 18 hours a day in the mines, with barely any visibility as the mines were often very dark. Without proper ventilation, coal dust made the air very thick and hard to breathe in. Explosions and cave-ins were some of the fears that were always present in this environment. The growth of industrialization led to an increase in jobs, mostly to the huge demand for manufactured goods. About 30% of all workers during the Victorian times were in the manufacturing business. Most middle-class workers considered this a higher standard of