Working & Living Conditions of

the Industrial Revolution

A. The Factories
B. Working
Conditions
C. The Cities
 A. The Factories
• Factories housed the machines that produced
the goods.
• Assembly Lines:
• This was called
method used in the
specialization or the
factories to produce
division of labor
goods
• Instead of one person
completing all tasks to
produce a good, the
process was broken into
small parts
• Each person was
assigned a skilled task
• The assembly line was an improvement over the
domestic system (making goods by hand at home)
• Economic impact of the factories (how it changes
the economy):
– Output of goods increased – more goods produced daily
• Ex: instead of 1 doll per day by hand, 500 per day
– Quality of manufactured goods increased - Goods were
better than before
• Ex: the hair of the doll would now stay on instead of falling off
– Cost of goods decreased – more was being produced, so
the price of the good went down
• Ex: Dolls made by hand before the IR cost $500, now $10
B. Working Conditions in Factories
• Conditions in the
factories were
harsh (horrible)
• Factories were:
– poorly ventilated
(the air was stale
& dirty)
– poorly lit
– the machines were
very dangerous
• Jobs in the factories • Eventually the children
paid very little will also go to work in
• Men were required to the factories
work at least 14 hours a
day
• Because of the low
wages paid, families
couldn’t be supported
by the man alone
• Women had to go to
work in the factories
• Injuries occurred often
• If you were hurt, you lost your job
• There was no compensation or medical insurance
• The managers or overseers were abusive to all of the
workers, but especially the children
• To push for better working conditions,
workers began to form labor unions
• The Unions were not seen favorably by the
factory owners
 C. The Cities
• Urbanization: growth of cities as people move
into them
• This will occur as people search for jobs in the
factories since they can no longer farm
• The living conditions in cities were horrible for the
WORKERS
– Lack of sanitary codes
• No trash pick up – all trash went into the streets and STAYED
THERE
• Same for human waste
– Lack of adequate housing
• Not enough housing so multiple families would share a 1 room
apartment
– Education
• No Schools
– Pollution
• Factories polluted the
air and rivers
– Crowded
– No police protection
• Diseases were common in cities
• Lack of sewage systems led to regular epidemics
(outbreaks) of diseases such as Cholera
• Not everyone lived in miserable conditions
– Middle Class
– Upper Class
• The Middle Class will become a very large and
important part of society
• The Middle Class was the owners of the factories