Chapter 17 (pp. 827-861)

Chapter 17 (pp. 827-861)

Chapter 17 focuses on the Industrial Revolution and it effects. I chose to focus the effect it had on social classes. The social classes prior to the Industrial Revolution  were two major classes: the nobles and peasants. During the industrial revolution, the peasants split into two new classes, the middle class and the working class. The middle class was composed of businessmen who built the factories and bought the machines. Those in the middle class had the right to vote and be represented in parliament. This class grew in numbers and wealth, and soon the middle class started to become as powerful and rich as the upper class. The working class was in fact the poorest of the social classes. It was made up of people who could not make enough money farming and had to work in factories instead. They worked in the factories for up to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week and earned low wages despite the fact that the work caused them injuries and sometimes death. Children younger than 10 also worked in the factories and were hired because the factory owners didn't have to pay them well  and they could crawl under the machines to fix or collect broken pieces. The working class houses were overcrowded, causing lots of disease to spread.