All Change Is Not Good Change

Not all Change is Good Change!

        The Industrialization brought with it advancements that many thought would be a blessing but instead, ended up being a curse in several ways.

        Dr. Ure believed the Industrialization was a blessing to the workers as it allowed them to automate a lot of their work and earn more money.  He reasoned that the machines prevented “muscular fatigue to sustain, while it produces for him good, unfailing, wages, besides a healthy work-shop gratis” in comparison to the manual laborers who had to bear the consequences of poor health and being tired which in turn caused them to earn low wages.

        However, in reality, we can clearly see all the health problems that were caused for the factory workers, women and children in particular, as well as the harsh working conditions the workers had to endure. In The Sadler Committee conversation we learned about the windows always being opened regardless of the weather, the strap punishment the workers were given for making mistakes, and the 40 minutes of allotted rest in a sixteen hour work day. But, the biggest difference we see in what Ure believed and the reality is the health complications that come from being exposed to the life in a factory leading up to deformity of the body.^[1]

        Friedrich Engles was also harshly critical of people like Dr. Ure’s philosophy about the Industrialization because he believed it was not only leading to misplacing the grown men out of work but, it also was affecting family life. He felt that “when women work in the factories, the most important result is the dissolution of family ties.”  

        Any new advances bring its own set of challenges and benefits, the important thing is to be aware of both and prepared to tackle the cons before appreciating the pros because sometimes, the cons outweigh the pros as is evident with the changes that the Industrialization brought with it.