Revealed: Industrial Revolution was powered by child slaves - Analysis

The article in analysis entitles Childhood and Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution, it was written by Jane Humphries. Cambridge University Press published the composition on Monday 22 December 2014. The title expresses the main theme of the article: child labour during the Industrial Revolution in England. The present argumentative analysis is due to understand what the thesis of the article is and how it is asserted in it.

The article opens with an image: an incision, from the Industrial Revolution period, that underlines the theme of the composition, showing a large group of children working under the eyes of a man, from clothing one could say the master, and of a woman, theoreticallyanotherworker. Under the picture, the text begins with a singular sentence that exploits the thesis of the extract: Child labour was the crucial ingredient which allowed Britain's Industrial Revolution to succeed. The thesis is followed by thirteen short paragraphs, each of them has a particular function in its argumentation.

The first paragraph reaffirms the thesis and then presents some data underlining the child labour diffusion into the English society of the 19^th century: it was about the 15 per cent of the total labour force. After the underlining of the children work diffusion, the article highlights the causes of its spread. It happens in the second paragraph, in which the lack of employable workforce in the industry is presented as a cause: farmers are considered unsuitable to work in the factories and then the owners created a new working class composed of children.

The reason for this choice, the choice of the children, is explained in the third paragraph while a quotation from Professor Humphries: Factory owners were looking for cheap, malleable and fast-learning work forces – and found them ready-made among the children of the urban workhouses. The fourth paragraph refers to the same academic research: it is mentioned specifically the statistics drawn to emphasize the exponential growth of the use of ten-years-old working-class during the nineteenth century. The following paragraph continues reporting the statistic data as regards eight-years-old boys. The same happens in the following one.

The second paragraph of the second page of the article emphasizes the work conditions of the children during the Industrial Revolution: They weren't paid – simply fed and given dormitory accommodation. This is the last paragraph of the article dedicated to the negatives of the Industrial Revolution; the following ones are referred to the positive and negative consequences of the industrialization and the young work. Are cited the resources referenced by the statistical basis of the article and analyzes the main consequences of work anticipated for the young (early marriage, enlargement of households), the consequent population increase, the partial exclusion of women from work and the abandonment of families by the dominant figure, the father who often died in accidents related to their work.

The article closes with another quotation of the woman that produced the statistic in which is contained the most important information, the core of the article: The new research is revealing for the first time the extent to which the English Industrial Revolution – and indirectly the imperial expansion it helped generate – depended on child labour.

The previous analysis of each paragraph has brought to light all the basic data presented in relation to this judgment: the statistics that have highlighted the increase in child labor during the industrial revolution, the reasons for this increase, the resulting occupational hazards and population growth, the reduction of women's work.

It can be concluded, so, that the article provides information as regards the incensement of children labour during the Industrial Revolution convincing the reader both of the wrong character of this practice both of its positive impact on society.