Race During the Industrial Revolution Essay

The industrial revolution took place from the late 17th century to the 18th century mostly in Britain before spreading to other parts of the world. This was characterized by a transition from an agriculture-dependent economy one that mainly involved hand production methods to a manufacturing economy, one with factories and machines. New factories ushered in a period of great prosperity characterized by urbanization, the betterment of economies, infrastructure development, and migration of people from all over the world to the industrializing nations. With many changes occurring at the time, racism emerged as one of the social problems that marred the society of the time.

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Firstly, during the industrialization, racism as part of the class struggle between those who owned the means of productions (machines), and the millions of people who sought jobs. Since many of machines were owned by white people, progressively, the ideology of superiority soon emerged. The English Imperialist Cecil Rhodes was once quoted saying that a society made up of pure white skin was the best and this ignorant mentality vested deeply in the minds of the people (Brown, 1988). People like Rhodes believed that cultural and individual achievement is what qualified one to be a dignified human being and earn them a say in society. As a result, poorly developed societies like the Africans and worse with black skin were looked down upon and considered inferior to the rest of the world. The color of their skin was considered different and strange to the extent of being compared to animals such as monkeys (Brown, 1988). Such perceptions made race relations to be very bad between Britain and other people of the world who were considered as inferior.

Karl Max, on the other hand, argued that racism was the fruit of capitalism. Economic systems in Britain and the US were characterized by individualized methods of production mainly driven by maximizing personal wealth and profits (Rossi, 2011). The privatization of capital, wages, property, pricing systems, industries, and other financial enterprises all centered on the capitalist culture. Karl went on to add that the emergence of a middle working class who instead of being entrepreneurs in their own right preferred working under someone to receive wages and salaries gave rise to the capitalist class who owned the few industries and means of production (Persson, 1988). Over time capitalists who now had the power to influence any levels of government began to experience supernormal economic growth and huge profit returns which cemented their positions in society (Persson, 1988). With society reigns now in the hands of a few power-hungry capitalists, the working was exploited, overworked and underpaid

The minority social class of capitalists in a bid to outdo each other through competition put pressure on the resources, the natural environment prioritizing personal gains over the common good (Persson, 1988). In this light, social injustices began to appear with racism, corruption, and discrimination. Racial segregation was also an aspect of discrimination during the industrial revolution. As the standard of living was improving due to access to better quality goods, there was a clear distinction on who had it and who did not. One could either afford to purchase these manufactured products at whatever price the merchants saw fit or they could not (Persson, 1988). Within no time, clear boundaries between the rich and the poor classes distinguished one from the other (Camejo, 1976) . The rich would only associate with the rich and the poor with the poor. There was a school for the rich and for the poor, restaurants were divided into areas for the rich and for the poor and one was cited and served according to their social class.

The racial segregation was further boosted in Britain when the government enacted laws to prevent exporting of their technology and skilled laborers to other countries as a way of keeping their inventions to themselves (Persson, 1988). Although these laws failed to be implemented the mentality of this selfish lifestyle was already deeply rooted in society. This mandated the separate use of different institutions such as schools, hospitals and even roads by people of different races (Camejo, 1976). The only spatial involvement between the races was often through hierarchical situations between servants and their masters or where the masters wanted to exploit the laborers.

The industrial revolution experienced waves of technological advancements, new scientific research and contemporary fields in education accelerated this growth. However, the moral and political aspects of the society did not seem to be changing for the common good (Griffiths, Kalish, & Lewandowsky, 2008). The traditional social structures and norms were shaken up to a great extent. Traditionally marriage was commonly between partners in the same geographical location and social class but with the rise in social classes, the rich would only marry the rich while the poor with the poor. Intermarriages between different races were termed as contamination of the superior race and this was highly looked down upon (Johnson & Earle, 2001). Prior to the industrial revolution, fathers/heads of family dictated the quality and quantity of work. However, with the industrial revolution, men women, and children were shoved into the same conditions under the authority and control of factory owners and masters.

Child labor was already practiced before when parents forced their children to work in their plantations but with the industrial shift, the situation only seemed to worsen. Children that were orphans, from poor families, widows and those of a different skin color were greatly affected. Due to their small hands and bodies, docile nature and presumed high energy levels children workers were in high demand (Humphries, 2010). Those working in factories would be forced to operate machines furlong hours without breaks to the extent where they would fall asleep on the machines while those in mines would dig for hours. Sleeping on the job, lateness, and laxity would be met with harsh and cruel punishment from the supervisors who would condone flogging as a form of punishment (Humphries, 2010). Air pollution in the factories and mines would make breathing hard for these younglings which consequently led to respiratory diseases. Due to long working hours, children could become weak, crippled and even deformed.

While the demand for more and more manufactured goods increased, there was a need for a new source of cheap labor. As a result slave trade was introduced and merchants traveled all the way to Africa. Due to the poor and deplorable living conditions of these African communities, the Community leaders received the sailors with open arms in exchange for processed good (Wrigley,2010). Given the free access, the merchants would capture young energetic Africans, subject them to torture while on transi6t to back to Britain. Within no time, the slave trade business surpassed even the sale of gold and silver (Humphries, 2010). Factory owners would wait at the ports for the ships from Africa carrying the slaves to auction them at a price. Slaves were then mistreated, forced to work without pay and little food which killed most of them.

The fact that poor African families and community leaders sold out their people into slavery made the inhumane act seem politically correct. Slaves would be allowed religious convictions and most of them converted into Christians but this was not enough to earn them a sit with their master's (Humphries, 2010). They would be allowed to cultivate their own gardens and grow food but this was only so that the masters would not have to cater for their consumption. They were prohibited from selling this product and those who did would lose the earnings to their masters (Humphries, 2010). Soon the colonies prohibited religious meetings by the inferior races as they were used as political campaigns for conspiracies and revolts.

Although activists who came from political groups such as The Luddites, social activists such as Karl Max and Charles Dickens came out to condemn racism on political, ethnic, religious and social basis, racial discrimination remained rampant (Camejo, 1976) While some rich racists abandoned the practice outwardly, most of them still retained their inward prejudice and discriminative attitudes towards people of other races. This ambivalence was visible through stereotypes where attributes were judged positively and with a bias for a person of the same race but harshly and unfairly for a person of a different race who possesses the same attributes (Camejo, 1976). Others denounced racism only by word of mouth but subconsciously they exhibited the racial discrimination in their decisions for instance during recruitment of employees or in opportunities for promotion.

However, not all hope was lost, legislators and human rights activists began to campaign for reforms and change in the society. Governments were now relaxing their control over the people, a move that paved way for these movements to champion the much needed essential social reforms (Guilford, 2011). Laws against child labor and minimum working age were enacted which helped protect children from forced labor. Advocates also pushed for better working conditions for the African slaves through the health and safety regulations, maximum working hour's requirements, salaries and wages laws and prevention of cruelty (Guilford, 2011). Workers injured or harmed in any way in the line of duty were now eligible to compensation for their damage while families of those who were killed would receive the same (Guilford, 2011). This was a step in the right direction or the inferior races.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the industrial revolution was a great point in history that improved the quality and standard of life through the introduction of better goods and service and also technological advancements. Introduction of machines has increased production and facilitated the means of transport from one place to another. However, despite these positive changes, this revolution was marred by a myriad of problems such as racial discrimination and even economic exploitation of the inferior races. Nevertheless, Laws and regulations that have been ratified by different levels of government have transformed this revolution for the better.

References

Brown, D. E. (1988). Hierarchy, history, and human nature: The social origins of historical consciousness. University of Arizona Press.

Camejo, P., & Camejo, P. (1976). Racism, revolution, reaction, 1861-1877: The rise and fall of Radical Reconstruction. Pathfinder Press.

Griffiths, T. L., Kalish, M. L., & Lewandowsky, S. (2008). Theoretical and empirical evidence for the impact of inductive biases on cultural evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 363(1509), 3503-3514.

Guilford, M. (2011). In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World. African Studies Review, 54(3), 184-185.

Humphries, J. (2010). Childhood and child labor in the British industrial revolution. Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, A. W., & Earle, T. K. (2000). The evolution of human societies: from foraging group to agrarian state. Stanford University Press.

Persson, K. G. (1988). Pre-industrial economic growth: Social organization and Technological Progress in Europe. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Persson, K. G. (1988). Pre-industrial economic growth: Social organization and Technological Progress in Europe. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Rossi, M.D. (2011) The Agricultural Economy." In Human Societies: An Introduction to Macro societies" https://academic.oup.com/jae/article/26/suppl_1/i11/388582...