Improving Standard of Living


relative levels of industrialization

Did the industrial revolution improve conditions for the working class? (note at the beginning of the chapter the large percentage of the population who were poorly paid factory workers)

 How did industrialization eventually help factory workers?
wages vs. productivity in England

Wages rose on average after 1862
real income per person in England 1200-2000
How do you define whether the standard of living went up?
if the poorer factory workers made 18-21 shillings per week family income (p. 138) did that buy more
British money system in the 19th century

How did prices change after 1850?


building a sewer in victorian London
What would cause the condition of workers to improve?

Laws began to improve conditions for workers:


Expanding the right to vote was one political response to a situation where many factory workers were hopeless and hungry (see also Hosbawm p. 51):

Worker protection in England:

Cities were improving, but still tended to grow faster than they could provide services and amenitieslife expectancy at birth showing
          increase only after 1860




trade union poster
Workers also developed organizations to help themselves:

Social life and community structure


in the second half of the 19th century trade unions begin to get somewhere

The middle class was expanding slowly and living more comfortably due to lower prices



this page written and copyright  Pamela E. Mack
last updated 9/9/19