Capitalism is an economic system characterised by:

Lack of government intervention

Means of production owned by private firms.

Goods and services distributed according to price mechanism (as opposed to government price
controls)
Pros of Capitalism

Economic freedom helps political freedom. If governments own the means of production and set prices,
it invariably leads to a powerful state and creates a large bureaucracy which may extend into other areas of life.

Efficiency. Firms in a capitalist based society face incentives to be efficient and produce goods which are
in demand. These incentives create the pressures to cut costs and avoid waste. State owned firms often tend to
be more inefficient (e.g. less willing to get rid of surplus workers and less incentives to try new innovative working
practices.)

Economic growth. With firms and individuals facing incentives to be innovative and work hard this
creates a climate of innovation and economic expansion. This helps to increase real GDP and lead to improved
living standards. This increased wealth, enables a higher standard of living; in theory, everyone can benefit from
this increased wealth, and there is a trickle down effect from rich to poor.
Waste: In a society where resources are not evenly distributed, there is always going to be the wealthy who have
an excess of resources. While occasionally these resources are given to the poor, often this excess is wasted.
Millions of dollars worth of food is wasted by those who have more than they need, while there are many others
who desperately need it.
Starvation: Of course, if some have an excess of the resources in society, there are others who do not have
enough. In Third World countries, many are starving because they cannot afford to feed themselves, while those
in Western countries fatten themselves with an excess of food, and waste the rest of it. There is enough food in
the world to feed the entire world population.
Pollution: It shouldnt be hard to convince people not to kill themselves, however, this is what companies are
doing as they refuse to put in environmental measures because it will reduce their profit margins. It doesnt
matter to them that, in the long term, well all be dead, as long as in the short term theyll have the most money.

The world as we know it would not be the same if it were not for the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial
Revolution has changed the world immeasurably. The Industrial Revolution was born in England because of its
medley of resources available, the free market, and its new methods of trade, and the governments allowance for
entrepreneurially advancements such as corporations. This potent concoction catapulted England into what is
now called, with some debate, the Industrial Revolution. The lasting effects of the Industrial Revolution can be
seen in all aspects of life from the obvious effects on production, trade, and commerce as well as effects in the
employer, employee relationship. Yet these changes did not come without a price. Those who were powering the
Industrial Revolution, the working class, suffered many changes to their lives. Though some of the changes were
eventually arguably beneficial; they came about through much sacrifice.

This guide focuses on the impact the Industrial Revolution had on the working class of England. As the Industrial
Revolution progressed clearer divisions of labor could be seem within the working class. These groups solidified
into adult males, adult females, and children. While different industries predominantly employed one subgroup
of the working class it is important to mention that it was not always exclusively that group. As the Industrial
Revolution developed law makers attentions were brought to the conditions of work each group and subgroup
were subject to. As the advancing attention was brought to these such conditions laws were put in place to aid in
the regulation of work place safety and ethics. To understand these effects, the guide is organized by first nonsocial aspects of the Industrial Revolution, to give a background understanding of the time, and then the
conditions of the working class.

Background
The Industrial Revolution effected incalculably many aspects of life. The relatively fast change from extended
family units working together in agriculture to the individualistic aspects of factory work was an extreme
transition. Many inventions, such as the steam engine and spinning jenny, brought the Industrial Revolution to
become the juggernaut that it was. The influx of population added to the overall unsanitary conditions plaguing
the new booming cities.

Living Conditions
The living conditions of the working class change tremendously as the Industrial Revolution progressed. In the
beginning excrement filled the city giving adding to the noxious fumes of the factories and the improperly
disposed of bodies. The factories and mines were incredibly unsafe and inhumane places to work. People worked
to the extremes for hours on end with insufficient breaks. Approximately 1,000 miners died annually due to
working hazards. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, however, living conditions slowly improved. New laws
were put into place ensuring a minimum break period for workers and regulating when children could work.
While living conditions were not ideal, by the end of the Industrial Revolution many lives had improved.

Anger at industrialization was reflected in and a main motivator of the workers' participation in the
revolution of 1830. French workers were angered by the industrialism taking place during the
nineteenth century. They felt that their world was changing and being overtaken by machines.
Although the industrial growth in France was not nearly as close to that of England, it did transform
the French economy, altering the orginization of workplaces and patterns of inequality. The economic
change in the mid-nineteenth century"produced a more cohesive and politically organized working
class, [with] a political agenda increasingly dominated by issues of economic inequality and expressed
in a language of class"