Impact Of The British Industrial Revolution On The Past, Current, And Future Generation

The British industrial revolution started in the 1790s certainly carried out its negative effects, but the positives currently outweigh the negatives through several different ways. Inventions of the revolution have benefited lives of mankind from basic daily tasks such as skinning apples to machinery that allow us to warp nature, new social classes are formed, they and aristocrats both gained a great amount of wealth while the working class continues their work but over machines instead of hands. Beginning the industrial was the invention of the steam engine with the work of Thomas Newcomen, forming the base of many inventions coming out of the revolution. These inventions range from industrial, communication, and transportation, machines such as the telegraph, spinning jenny, and other machines which mainly are run by electricity are all crucial for the major decrease in labor work and the increase in professions as well. As more and more people from rural areas head to cities to search for better jobs, for example, factories began to divide workers into more specific works as they had enough workers, allowing for an overall increase in efficiency which also specialized skills are needed therefore additions teachers and trainers were required. As production rates rapidly increase and as less handmade items are seen. Supplies of different items rose which led to a huge decrease to the price and accessibility of goods, this includes shoes, clothing, household items, tools, and many other items which people use daily, which all contribute to the better quality of life of an average person. Cheaper daily items also mean there is more spare money which people can build wealth of their own from, leading to more companies and manufacturers being set up.

Another influence of the quality of life is the increase in real wages, evidence from Sir John Clapham’s An Economic History of Modern History and it states real wages have doubled from 1810 to 1850. Rise of wages increased the meat, sugar, tea, beer, eggs and imported food eaten per capita by a significant amount before the 1850s foods such as meat, vegetables, and fruits were considered luxuries which then were eaten regularly after the 1850s. In fact, the average weekly English diet of 1850 — five ounces of butter, thirty ounces of meat, fifty-six ounces of potatoes, and sixteen ounces of fruits and vegetables — is quite similar to the English diet of today. The revolution was also the backbone of the development of medicine as medical instruments such as test tubes, scalpels, and other equipments were produced at a much faster rate and with the advancements of transportation, sent out much faster as well. As the industrial revolution continued in Great Britain, negative effects began to show as well, the gap between rich and poor grew wider as the poor were forced to work in poor conditions around 14-16 hours per day for 6 days per week in order to feed their families, the rich had absolute control over the poor. Cities began to overpopulate as people from rural areas migrate to urban areas to find better-paying jobs, cities were not prepared for the large income of people in the short amount of time, housing was an issue when workers began migrating but soon poor-quality housing which house many quickly appeared.

The larger issue with overcrowding is the impact on sewerage and sanitation, this quickly led to drinking water contaminated and breakouts of infectious diseases appeared all over towns. Environmental safety was quickly left behind as more and more countries and individuals pursued wealth through a variety of industries, humans devoured natural resources and released wastes in oceans and the air, to produce items, natural resources were used as led to global issues such as pollution, damaged ecosystem, global warming, biodiversity loss. Previously humans have taken thousands of years taking small steps towards developments and certainly, the industrial revolution has boosted human development by decades or even centuries, technologies inherited from the revolution are still developing to better the daily lives and humans and also allow us to live longer and safer lives while molding nature to our will. But simultaneously we also destroy natural systems, cause extinction, and release destructive gases and other wastes into the climate, there have already been certain events caused by global issues and although the industrial revolution may still be a positive change for now, but future generations may be at risk of living in a society which the preservation of everything is jeopardized.