Social Class During The Industrial Revolution

England in the eighteenth century, went through a period of time, where people who were once self-sufficient migrated toward cities, where they began manufacturing machine made goods. This was known as the Industrial Revolution. England had been building up its empire since 1607. When the Industrial Revolution began in 1760, England had the cash, and therefore the means to production.That was a good amount of time to gather wealth and resources in order to, spur such an industrial boom in England. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain found natural resources such as coal, founds in the British colonies, which fueled a vast, majority of the machines. Also, people were split into different social classes, seeking opportunity. Lastly, scientific …show more content…
The three classes include the upper class, middle class, and lower class. Prior to the revolution there were only the rich and the poor. The middle class emerged during this time because of the opportunities that were given. The Upper class included the nobles and the rich. These people had the best jobs. For example, owners of factories and big businesses. After the upper class, came the middle class. These people played the role are the artisans in society. They were not rich, but were able to provide for their families and lived comfortably. What allowed the artisans to leave the working class before the Industrial Revolution and form a high class for themselves was, urbanization. As people moved to the cities, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, a new class, which is formally known as the middle class, came about. The revolution prospered because of people buying the newly manufactured goods. They bought the products the Industrial Revolution was creating, thereby fueling it. The middle class people sold and serviced the products in the revolution made, therefore, earning money from it, taking the opportunity to leave the lower class and enter the middle class. Lastly, the lower class included factory workers, who worked in deplorable work conditions. These lower class members worked the longest hours. In Adam Smith’s, Wealth of Nations, “I have seen a small manufactory [factory] of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where some of them performed two or three distinct operations...They could...make among them..upwards of 48,000 in a day.” This shows the advantages of hiring more workers in a factory. The more people working together, leads to an increase in production, which leads to an increase in exports. This need for workers in factories made the lower class driven to get