5. Some Social Effects of the Industrial Revolution

The demands made by industrialization upon the worker were often severe, whether in England or France, Russia or the United States. He had to give up the somewhat desultory habits of work which had usually sufficed him and his ancestors from the beginnings of time. Significantly enough, one of Arkwright\u27s first steps after establishing his factory was to draw up a code of discipline designed to keep his employees steadily on the job. The worker also gave up the ownership of his tools, if he had not already done so under the domestic system, and was thus left a proletarian, with nothing to bring the employer but his labor. This was an asset which afforded him little in the way of bargaining power, especially as the employers began using women and children, the latter in England often recruited from nearby orphanages as an alternative source of cheap labor. [excerpt