Cultural+Change+(Kaleigh)

INDUSTRIAL ERA! CULTURAL CHANGE By: Kaleigh Tierney

During the Industrial Revolution, a huge change occurred economically. Human labor was being replaced with mechanical devices. Human and animal power was being replaced by steam power. Adding steam to the transportation lead to railroad systems making goods faster and more reliable for transporting, which made America a more “unified market” Social- Before the Industrial Era, most people lived in small villages. They lived and worked with their families. The most common job was farming, although some people worked as skilled craftsmen. A law that required all grounds required to be fenced, many poor farmers ended up being bankrupt and unemployed. These people now went to work in the factories. The cities grew and expanded based on technology(metal-frame sky scrapers, elevators, and street car systems). The cities were no longer “walking cities” and as the middle class moved out, the immigrants came rushing in to be closer to their jobs in the factories. Because they had little money to begin with most immigrants could only afford tiny, dirty tenements. Because of technology and the use of gas and electric lights on streets, most people did not stay home at night. There started to be many things to do for leisure such as spectator sports, concerts, fairs and even the circus. Because more and more people were starting to go out at night, drinking became more popular. employers started to develop organized sports programs for their employees to keep them out of the bars. Education was also becoming more popular and accessible. The desire to have an education also grew to many people. Although education was not as valued as much then as it is today, it was still an ideal and they valued the opportunity to go to school if given the chance.

All of these things from Social, economical, technical and the urbanization of this time period had a great amount of affect on the American Cultural. Because of a law, having to turn from farmers from living in rural areas, then going to the city to be a factory worker was a big change for many people to go through. The technology that was developed then, seems basic now but just like this day in age when cell phones were invented there was instant access to communication which was huge, so if you could imagine the people during this time period had similar feelings. Technology and energy developments changed the way many people lived their lives.

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