Standards of living
The effects on living conditions the industrial revolution have been very controversial, and were hotly debated by economic and social historians from the 1950s to the 1980s.[66]A series of 1950s essays by Henry Phelps Brown and Sheila V. Hopkins later set the academic consensus that the bulk of the population, that was at the bottom of the social ladder, suffered severe reductions in their living standards.[66] During 1813–1913, there was a significant increase in worker wages.[67][68][69]
Some economists, such as Robert E. Lucas, Jr., say that the real impact of the Industrial Revolution was that "for the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility."[2] Others, however, argue that while growth of the economy's overall productive powers was unprecedented during the Industrial Revolution, living standards for the majority of the population did not grow meaningfully until the late 19th and 20th centuries, and that in many ways workers' living standards declined under early capitalism: for instance, studies have shown that real wages in Britain only increased 15% between the 1780s and 1850s, and that life expectancy in Britain did not begin to dramatically increase until the 1870s.[3][4]
Food and nutrition
Main article: British Agricultural Revolution
Chronic hunger and malnutrition were the norm for the majority of the population of the world including Britain and France, until the late 19th century. Until about 1750, in large part due to malnutrition, life expectancy in France was about 35 years, and only slightly higher in Britain. The US population of the time was adequately fed, much taller on average and had life expectancy of 45–50 years.[70]
In Britain and the Netherlands, food supply had been increasing and prices falling before the Industrial Revolution due to better agricultural practices; however, population grew too, as noted by Thomas Malthus.[1][47][71][72] Before the Industrial Revolution, advances in agriculture or technology soon led to an increase in population, which again strained food and other resources, limiting increases in per capita income. This condition is called the Malthusian trap, and it was finally overcome by industrialisation.[47]
Transportation improvements, such as canals and improved roads, also lowered food costs. Railroads were introduced near the end of the Industrial Revolution.
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Housing
Over London by Rail Gustave Doréc. 1870. Shows the densely populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities.
Living conditions during the Industrial Revolution varied from splendour for factory owners to squalor for workers.[ citation needed ]
In The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 Friedrich Engels described backstreet sections of Manchester and other mill towns, where people lived in crude shanties and shacks, some not completely enclosed, some with dirt floors. These shantytowns had narrow walkways between irregularly shaped lots and dwellings. There were no sanitary facilities. Population density was extremely high. Eight to ten unrelated mill workers often shared a room, often with no furniture, and slept on a pile of straw or sawdust.[73] Toilet facilities were shared if they existed. Disease spread through a contaminated water supply. Also, people were at risk of developing pathologies due to persistent dampness.
The famines that troubled rural areas did not happen in industrial areas. But urban people—especially small children—died due to diseases spreading through the cramped living conditions. Tuberculosis (spread in congested dwellings), lung diseases from the mines,cholera from polluted water and typhoid were also common.
Not everyone lived in such poor conditions. The Industrial Revolution also created a middle class of professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, who lived in much better conditions.
Conditions improved over the course of the 19th century due to new public health acts regulating things such as sewage, hygiene and home construction. In the introduction of his 1892 edition, Engels notes that most of the conditions he wrote about in 1844 had been greatly improved.
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