Unit 5: The Social and Political Impact of Industrialization
Industrialization was not merely a change in the way societies produced goods. It brought a transformation in the way people lived, turning rural towns into urban manufacturing centers. Newly industrialized societies faced health problems and challenges to conventional family and social structures. Politics in industrialized societies were transformed as traditional landed elites gave way to industrial capitalists and the burgeoning "middle class” of businessmen and professionals. Workers also began to challenge traditional political systems, drawing on new ideologies to suggest alternatives the developing capitalist-industrial world in which they lived
In this unit, we will survey the sweeping changes that industrialization brought to Europe and the rest of the world between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries. We will then examine how working class and middle class individuals and organizations used these changes to challenge traditional elites.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- describe how the growth of industry led to increased urbanization in Europe;
- analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the politics and ideologies of the middle and working class;
- discuss the causes, spread, and events of the Revolutions of 1848; and
- compare primary source documents to explain the ideals and goals of the Revolutions of 1848.
5.1: Urbanization
5.1.1: Growth of Urban Manufacturing
Watch this lecture by John Merriman to learn how industrialization changed urban life during the 19th century.
5.1.2: Rapid Growth of Industrial Cities
Examine this map of population density in 1910 to see where people were most densely concentrated in Europe.
Review this interactive map, which illustrates the spread of industry and urbanization in Europe.
5.2: Women and the Family in Society
5.2.1: Women as Workers
Watch Chapter 3 of this lecture, which begins at 16:29. This lecture will help you understand how the Industrial Revolution changed women's lives.
5.2.2: Child Labor
Watch this lecture learn how the Industrial Revolution utilized child labor.
5.3: The Rise of the Middle Class
5.3.1: Wealth from Industry and Trade
Read this article to learn how the Industrial Revolution expanded the middle class in England.
5.3.2: Political Aspirations
Read this article to learn how industrialization created political conditions that led to the Reform Acts in England.
Read this article to learn more about how industrialization created political conditions that led to the Reform Acts in England.
Read this article to learn more about the Reform Acts in England.
5.4: The Working Class
5.4.1: French Socialism
Read this article to learn how intellectuals and labor leaders viewed the impact of industrialization on politics and society.
- Steven Kreis' "The French Revolution and the Socialist Tradition: English Democratic Socialists" URL
Read this article to learn how intellectuals and labor leaders viewed the impact of industrialization on politics and society.
5.4.2: Utopian Socialism
Read this article to learn how intellectuals and workers tried to use industrialization to create utopian societies.
Read this article to learn how intellectuals and workers tried to use industrialization to create utopian societies.
5.4.3: Chartism
Read this article to learn about the basic goals of the Chartist movement in England.
5.5: The Revolutions of 1848
5.5.1: On the Road to Revolution
Watch this lecture, which explains the ideologies and events leading up to the revolutionary year of 1848.
5.5.2: Causes
5.5.3: Spread
Read these primary source documents. These documents were issued by the provisional government of France in 1848. The actions and ideals espoused by the revolutionaries in France quickly spread to many other European nations.
Read this excerpt from a memoir by Carl Schurz, a German revolutionary in 1848 who later immigrated to the United States and became a general in the Civil War. Note how Schurz describes the excitement sweeping through Europe following the Revolution in France.
- Receive a grade
In this assignment, you will compare two primary sources. This assignment will help you explain the similarities and differences between revolutionary sentiment in France and what would later become Germany. Germany, as we recognize it today, would not become unified until 1871. It is important to understand that while the revolutions of 1848 shared many of the same broad features, they also took on characteristics unique to their own national settings.
This assignment is ungraded, and will not affect your final course grade.
5.5.4: Restoration of Order
Read this article to learn about the social groups that opposed the Revolution of 1848 in France. Similar groups throughout Europe resisted the revolutions and ultimately prevented the most radical revolutionary forces from making lasting reforms.
