American Destruction in the Industrial Revolution

During the last quarter of the 19th century, there are two social changes that stand out the most. The first change in society came shortly after the first industrial revolution. As Karl Marx so accurately predicted, “Marx believed that the emergence of a classless society would lead to progress in science, technology and industry and to greater wealth for all” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005). It is my belief that Marx clearly understood what would happen if the classes were broken down. I believe that he realized that the emancipation of all slaves would quickly make the task of finding easier ways of getting work done a priority. Through this change, all of society soon became consumers. Society has progressed, almost to our destruction and today that driving force to work to feed our consumption makes up the majority of our lives. No longer would our struggles be limited to land and birth right, we had evolved. “The struggle for economic (and political) supremacy,” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005) now dictated the classes and leaders of the world. One example of this is that “businesses soon perceived the value of using new techniques of mass marketing to sell the consumer goods,” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005) this lead to the creation of the department store. The ability to sell products cheaper in this method allowed for the general population to purchase items that were before out of reach either financially or physically.

The other change in society that played a large role in the quality of life throughout the world, was the increasing population. It can hardly be argued that more free time with the luxuries of day to day tasks and travel, added to the pursuit of the creation of life. There are many great sources on this subject such as “The baby boom and baby bust” (J. Greenwood, A Seshadri and G. Vendenbrouck). Two other factors greatly contributed to this increase in population. “Although the causes of this decline have been debated….medical discoveries and environmental conditions stand out” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005). A good example of this population explosion combined with the industrial centralization is during “the nineteenth century, urban dwellers came to make up an ever increasing percentage of population” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005) People were literally “driven from the countryside to the city by sheer economic necessity, unemployment, land hunger, and physical want” (Jackson Spielvogel, 2005).

The reason that I believe that these two factors were the most significant is because these factors still exist today and play a large role in the decline of community, work, education and family life. We are just now realizing that changes must be made, old systems torn down and new ones put in their place. Our improved quality of life with medical advances etc are finally forcing people to take a step back and reevaluate some of the lost qualities, that we had prior to this age of advancement.