Industrial society: page 185 exercises

Exercise 1

To answer the question we must distinct two different moments of the Industrial Revolution: the first including the beginning of the British Revolution and the second including the last part of it. The division into two different moments must be done because of the different consequences of industrialization on urban people in them. The Industrial revolution, as the Agrarian one, firstly did not bring some advantages to the common people lives: they lost their work because of the use on new inventions and technologies and the only positive aspects can be found in the upper classes economical situation. The second moment of the Industrial Revolution brought some advantages also in the lower classes life, improving life conditions in general and making products cheaper.

The sentence pronounced by William Blake, “dark satanic mills”, can be understand in relation to the first part of the revolution. We know that Blake remained poor in spite of the Three Revolutions, so his consideration of them is that reserved to something that does not make life better but that, on the contrary, makes it worse. The new life condition to which the Blake’s quotation may refer are those underlined in the text at page 185.

Exercise 2

1 Shifting of population

2 Coal field provided factories with fuel

3 Mushrooms towns

4 Women and children were increasingly employed

5 Long working hours

6 Terrible living conditions

7 Lacked elementary public services

8 Air and water were pulled by smoke and filth

9 Houses were overcrowded

10 Life expectancy was well below twenty years

Exercise 3

1 to

2 seen

3 per

4 could

5 force

6 who

7 then

8 the

9 them

10 in

11 however

12 as   

Exercise 4

1 The percentage of child workers during the Industrial Revolution was the 15 percent.

2 They were chosen as work force because of the lacking of adult workers and because of owners were looking for chap, malleable and fast learning work forces. They were not paid, simply fed and given dormitory accommodation.

3 No, it was not. It was merely and expansion and extension of an already long established practise.