Unit 6: Reactions to the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Isms

Industrial Revolution

A period of significant industrial growth that transformed society and the economy, changing how goods were produced and how people lived.

Urbanization

The process where an increasing percentage of a population comes to live in urban areas, often leading to rapid growth of city populations.

The Great Stink

A major event in the mid-19th century in London where the overwhelming smell from untreated sewage and industrial waste led to public health concerns.

Cholera

A waterborne disease that became prevalent during urbanization due to poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies.

Public Health Act (1848)

Legislation in Britain aimed at improving sanitary conditions and public health, partly due to Edwin Chadwick’s report on diseases linked to filth.

Bourgeoisie

The middle class in capitalist society, who owned the means of production and valued hard work and material success.

Proletariat

The working class who did not own means of production and relied solely on their ability to work for wages.

Class Consciousness

The awareness of one’s economic rank and the feeling of solidarity among members of the working class.

Separate Spheres Ideology

A social system where men were seen as breadwinners in public life, while women were responsible for the home and children.

Cult of Domesticity

A cultural belief that idealized women’s roles as moral guardians of the family, prevalent among middle-class circles.

Laissez-Faire Economics

An economic theory advocating minimal government intervention in the economy, associated with classical liberalism.

Malthusian Theory

Thomas Malthus's theory that population growth would always outpace food supply, leading to inevitable famine and suffering.

Iron Law of Wages

David Ricardo's principle that wages tend towards the subsistence level due to population growth among workers.

Utopian Socialism

Early socialists who sought to create ideal communities based on cooperation instead of competition; later deemed naive by Marxists.

Phalansteries

Self-sufficient communities envisioned by Charles Fourier, where work was rotated to ensure both productivity and fulfillment.

Dialectical Materialism

A Marxist framework asserting that history progresses through conflicts between opposing economic classes.

Class Struggle

The ongoing conflict between different classes, particularly between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, as described by Marx.

People's Charter

A document drafted by the Chartist movement in Britain that outlined demands for universal male suffrage and other political reforms.

Factory Act of 1833

Legislation that limited the workday for children in factories and prohibited employment for those under nine.

Mines Act of 1842

A law that barred women and girls from underground work in mines, reflecting changing labor and social dynamics.

Ten Hours Act of 1847

A law that limited work hours for women and young people in factories to ten hours a day.

Marxism

A political and economic theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels advocating for class struggle and the establishment of a classless society.

Communism

A final stage in Marxist theory where society becomes classless and stateless, abolishing private property.

The Luddites

A group of English workers who protested against industrialization by destroying machinery that threatened their jobs.

Chartist Movement

A significant working-class movement in Britain during the 1830s and 1840s that called for political reforms, including voting rights.

Reform Bills

Legislative changes in Britain aimed at expanding voting rights and addressing myths surrounding the tendency toward universal suffrage.