THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON THE CITY

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:History

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It was characterized by enhanced hand technology, economical labor-saving materials and division of labour and specialization3. This process of Industrialization is considered to have transformed the civil society4. This paper seeks to address the how and the extent to which the industrial revolution altered the civil society. It aims at discovering whether the Industrial Revolution had a positive or negative impact on the society, especially those living in the city. During industrialization, there was heavy reliance on new forms of energy such as coal, electricity which led to unprecedented economic growth5. While industrialization led to the growth of cities such as London, it also brought with it serious social problems. As aforementioned, due to urbanization, rural to urban migration became apparent.

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The population of cities grew significantly; during industrialization, there was a population increase of about 1’6 billion from 900 million9. The gist of the matter is that as population increases, the resources to support such a population should increase at an equally fast rate. Unfortunately, the resources such as housing, social amenities could not support the rapid population increase10. Moreover, the factories became overcrowded leading to the spread of undiscovered illnesses17. On the face of it, this appears to be a social problem. However, it is also an economic problem because the machines could not operate themselves. Therefore, scarcity of labor due to illnesses was equally an economic problem as it was a social one. Industrialization also had some political implications. This is because industrialization laid the foundation for modernization and subsequently globalization.

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