The Disastrous Social Impacts Caused By The Industrial...

The disastrous social impacts caused by the Industrial Revolution can be sourced back to the dramatic population increases seen in England before and during the revolution. In 1696, the population of London was 530,000, cities and other towns consisted of 870,000 inhabitants, while villages had a population of 4,100,000. In 1881, these numbers drastically increased as the urban population was 17,285,026, and the rural population was 8,683,026. Between the beginning of the revolution and its end, England underwent massive population growth. This population increase expedited the revolution as it provided a ready number of workers who could aid factories in producing massive amounts of product. Moreover, this population upsurge resulted in†¦show more content†¦It also demonstrates how the poor had more offspring in an attempt to try and augment their already miniscule income. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the population changes it brought about, the living conditions of the working class declined sharply. As the population and size of working class families increased, conditions diminished significantly. James Wilson was a writer who documented the development of Great Britain. In 1851 James Wilson wrote that: We have ample means of showing by indisputable facts that wealth has been diffused as well as increased during the period under review; that so far from â€Å"the rich having become richer and the poor poorer,† as is so often and so inconsiderately asserted, the middle classes have advanced faster than the great, and the command over the comforts and luxuries of life, even among peasants and artisans, is far greater now than at any former period. †¦ This quote exhibits how the Industrial Revolution brought wealth to England, but in the wrong places. The wealth that came into England due to mechanical advancements led to an even greater discrepancy in wealth between the upper and lower classes. Factory owners, primarily members of the upper class, became extremely wealthy because of the new efficiency of their factories. The lower classes however, were payed very little wages for long work days, which created an unfavorable