Industrial Revolution- Positive or Negative?

I feel as though the Industrial Revolution had its pros and cons. I will create a list here and by the end will see if one side outweighs the other.

Pros:

1) The inventions that came out of the Industrial Revolution, such as steam and fuel run engines, the spinning jenny, the power loom, the cotton gin, and many more benefitted the people of that time era immensely.

2) The inventions benefitted multiple aspects of society. The engines provided a quicker and more efficient way of transportation and communication. All of the machinery that was invented allowed the amount of human labor to decrease and in turn led to a more efficient output of goods.

3) Due to the fact that the list of successful goods and services was ever growing, a “culture of innovation” (page 528 Ways of the World) was created. More was created, more was accepted, and ultimately more was improved.

4) The industrialization spread globally, changing and improving all areas, allowing trading opportunities as well as advancement in global relationships.

5) New forms of energy were discovered, such as oil, natural gas, and nuclear reactions, which led to the introduction of automobiles, airplanes, computers, and extreme advancement in electronics as a whole.

Cons:

1) Due to the fact that factories and machinery required very little human labor, there was a huge increase in the loss of jobs of many.

2) The importance of agriculture, once the most dominant economic aspect in every civilization, shrank tremendously. Agriculture was once the greatest generator of national income and employed a large amount globally. With the importance of agriculture lost, what came with that was jobs lost as well.

3) New classes were established within the Industrial Revolution. There were the aristocrats, such as large landowners, who once ranked as top of the social pyramid. However as urban wealth became of more importance, the aristocrats were replaced by businessmen, manufacturers, and bankers. These new jobs were now of more importance than that of an aristocrat.

4) The new class system was not one built upon relationships. The aristocrats, middle classes, and laboring classes were completely separate. In Benjamin Disraeli’s novel Sybil, he describes the different classes as “two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones or inhabitants of different planets.” (Page 538 Ways of the World)

5) What comes with factories is pollution, and what comes with pollution brings are problems. The quality of the factories in which laborers were working in were not of very good quality and led to both health and safety issues.

6) Although factories were created in order to lessen the amount of work both men and women had to do, it was still necessary for someone to be tending to the machines. This was a job that not many wanted for the work hours were demanding, the quality of the working quarters were unsatisfactory, and the pay was scarce. This led to unsatisfied workers, poverty, and rebellion.

As one can see, the list of ‘cons’ is a bit longer than the list of ‘pros.’ However, I feel as though the list of beneficial things that the Industrial Revolution brought is more significant than that of the cons. Yes, what came with the Industrial Revolution were some minor flaws, however in the long run, nothing but beneficial things have come from it. I feel as though as over all, the Industrial Revolution affected society positively and was extremely beneficial in forming what today’s world looks like.