The Industrial Economy & People

The Industrial economy & People

The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standard of living for some, and continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods.

Wealth Gap expands

Upper Class gets richer

Working Class forms

Middle Class expands

While the upper and middle classes benefited the most from industrial capitalism, workers did see a general rise in their standard of living (horrible working conditions did exist, especially during the early industrial period, but the emergence of industrial millionaires made the status of working class people sometimes seem worse than it was because of the growing gap between the rich and the poor).

Mechanization, factories and assembly lines made consumer goods and food cheaper and more affordable for most people (more people were able to eat meat at this time than ever before). The first industry to industrialize was textiles, making ready-to-wear clothing available for the first time to consumers of all social classes.

Urbanization leads to overcrowding & pollution

Ready-made goods become more available

Standard of Living goes up (in general)

Food becomes more available