The Hidden Cost of the American Industrial Revolution

Marking a major turning point in American history, the American industrial revolution brought about fundamental changes to the American economy in many cases dramatically increasing the wealth of American society.

However, the American industrial revolution did not come without its costs.

Among the many transformations wrought by industrialization there was a dramatic transformation to the American social and cultural fabric.

For the first time in the U.S.’s existence, social classes emerged especially in the rapidly industrializing north.

The dramatic influx of wealth injected into the American economy was not equally distributed as a new upper class and middle class were established that soaked up the profits from the newly established mills and factories.

Amidst the new stratification of class in the U.S., there emerged unique class based views on important topics like slavery.

Additionally the establishment of class stratifications led to the development of sub-cultures: the upper class socialized separately from the growing middle class whilst the working class formed their own societies in the cities and mill-towns where they lived and worked.

The middle class valued work, consumption, and education whilst pursuing the advancement of social status.

The working classes, working the most hours for the least amount of pay were effectively prevented from actually enjoying the products of their own labor, let alone advancing up the economic ladder, or affording a traditional education for their children.