Industrial Revolution And Social Change

At the start of the industrial revolution massive societal and technological changes were underway. This change is best described by Lindholdt (1997) as “unprecedented” in the shock to social norms (felt by labors) and the environment impact. Change is not always accepted positivity, one such event took place in the early 1800’ in England when skilled textile workers were replaced by steam driven machines. At the time a poor quality of life existed for many, and with the introduction of machines skilled workers felt belittled as they were either replaced or were downgraded from skilled workers into machine attendants. When a portion of these skilled workers revolted against these changes, they were called Luddites which has been likened to the tales of Robin Hood taking from the rich to give to the poor (Jones, 2006). The Luddites were motivated by a hope to stop the industrial change and subsequently broke into factories and destroyed textile machines. In response to this destruction, violence and murder the British Government sent military troops to the affected regions to stop the destruction. Writers of the time politicized the movement in poems and books with sorry over the workers killed by the government. As a result, rigorous laws were put in place prohibiting Luddism and the …show more content…
The creators parody how the traditional American living room is dead and instead of families getting together in the evenings as yesteryear, they isolate themselves in rooms with technology (Rehash (South Park), 2014). As the problems increase as the result of (almost daily) various technical advances, I envision a continued strife between man and technology. Technologies such as cloning, genetically modified corn, and robotics in particular bring to light some of the deep traditional principal and ethical issues faced today(BILL JOY