The Industrial Revolution ushered in sweeping changes, many of which still resonate in our society today. Let us look at a few of these changes, which I have grouped under the headings "positive" and "negative."
Positive: The Industrial Revolution accompanied what was known as the "Great Deflation," which was a drastic lowering of prices on manufactured goods and foodstuffs. Part of this was due to the new efficiency with which industrialists produced first capital goods and then consumer goods. People had access to cheap manufactured goods that changed their standard of living. The Industrial Revolution made businesses more productive, contributed to major scientific advances in energy, transportation, and medicine, and, in the case of the United States, made the nation the wealthiest in the world.
Negative: All of these changes came a tremendous human cost. The Industrial Revolution flourished alongside laissez-faire ideology that militated against the kinds of regulations that minimized this cost. Workers labored under difficult, even dangerous conditions and more disciplined schedules than before. Children were thrust into factories, mines, and other workplaces to perform cheap labor. In most countries, the Industrial Revolution led to a new plutocratic class that reaped the benefits of economic expansion far more than the working class, who lived on the edge of poverty. Large monopolistic corporations, known at the time as "trusts," controlled many industries, setting prices and eliminating the competition that supposedly underlay industrial capitalism. So many of the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the lives of ordinary people were mixed at best.
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