How does industrialization change paternalism

Personal loans and family finance were often more important than the formal institutions of the capital market, such as banks and mortgage brokers. Though British manufactures dominated European and transatlantic markets, domestic demand provided a secure bedrock for mid-Victorian prosperity. Increased demand resulted from rising incomes particularly for the middle classes and for workers with particular skills such as engineering.

Demand was also driven by the sheer increase in numbers of consumers. This was a product of the population explosion and coupled with greater wage dependency, landlessness and urbanisation. Increased wage earning opportunities for women and juveniles boosted family spending, notably in textile districts and in the towns.

More people were buying a greater variety of textiles, clothing, shoes, household and domestic items - on their list was china, cutlery, mirrors, books, clocks, furniture, curtains and bedding, as well as a variety of small wares, such as buckles, ribbons, buttons, snuff boxes and other fancy goods.

More beer, butter, bread, milk, meat, vegetables, fruit, fish and all other foodstuffs were now being bought rather than made or grown at home. This was where each social class aspired to the habits and patterns of consumption of their superiors. This is difficult to substantiate but in a period of social flux and transformation there is no doubt that clothing, personal and household possessions were important ways of communicating one's position in society.

Ever-changing fashions and designs also stimulated demand whilst new forms of marketing and retailing made products more easily available to the consumer. This was manifest in the growth of urban and village shops, the use of shop window displays, the development of city department stores from the s , and the extension of newspaper and billboard advertising. The economy flourished when cotton boomed and exports were high.

However, when markets became overstocked and confidence was shaken, the economy went into recession. This pattern of boom and slump continued throughout the 19th century. However, the success of the economy came to rest on much broader foundations by the s with the expansion of railway networks first at home then abroad. Furthermore, there was growing demand from other industrialising nations and the range of British manufactures was extended, particularly in iron and steel sectors and in engineering.

Risks were great and bankruptcy rates were high but start up costs in most sectors were relatively low. Capital and credit were easily available and many individuals and families became wealthy and successful.

So superior in terms of competitiveness and pricing were most British manufactures of the mid 19th century, that the extension of free trade created a further positive dynamic. Even the much debated repeal of the Corn Laws in , which were laws preventing the importation of foreign grains until domestic prices reached very high levels, did not have the disastrous impact predicted by the agricultural lobby. This was because raised investment in the sector, growing specialisation and rising urban demands for foodstuffs ushered in a period of 'High Farming' and general profitability.

Not only British products but British ships, British capital and British financial institutions dominated world trading. The Great Exhibition of marked the peak of British economic dominance. A huge range of British products were displayed for foreign and domestic visitors in the monumental visionary architectural achievement of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. However, the storm clouds were already gathering. Other countries, particularly Germany, and the United States were catching Britain up.

They had more abundant and cheaper supplies of energy and raw materials. Railways would soon open up the great granaries of the world in Russia, and north America flooding Europe with cheap grain. The way ahead lay in retreat into the unprotected and more easily exploitable markets of the Empire. Growth in the economy was decelerating from the s. Some sectors, notably arable farming, textiles, iron and steel, engineering and several consumer goods were entering a more difficult phase.

Entirely new industries such as chemicals were to be pioneered elsewhere, notably in Germany. It has been argued that Britain experienced a very incomplete transition to industrial society and that this was responsible for the loss of British economic supremacy from the later 19th century. The aristocratic land-owning class continued to dominate in government. Financial and rentier interests, rather than the new industrial entrepreneurs, tended to guide national economic policy, often at the expense of industry.

Industrial magnates themselves frequently aspired to landed lifestyles. Second and third generations of industrial dynasties were often sent for classical training at public schools and sought careers in law or imperial administration rather than in business. It has been suggested that such gentlemanly and half-hearted attitudes towards industrialism were the Achilles heel of British success.

This is an interesting idea but can be misleading. The deceleration of growth of the economy in the late Victorian period and the growing rivalry from competitors can be seen as the inevitable price to be paid for early pioneering of new and untried technologies. Rival industrialisers could learn from British mistakes and often received more state assistance, protection and finance.

The conscious policy of following Britain's lead generally made their industrialisation more forceful and speeded the catch up process. Industrial and commercial entrepreneurs may not have been dominant in central government but their influence was keenly felt. This was particularly so in calls for social and political reform such as with the new poor law of , with suffrage extension and with free trade. By the s and 40s, in most major industrial towns and cities, entrepreneurial figures gained control of local and municipal government and had a major impact on urban and regional politics.

In the industrial and social unrest of the 19th century, struggles occurred between the growing force of industrial employers and the working classes over their working and living conditions. Karl Marx exaggerated when he saw British society of the mid 19th century riven along class lines.

Paternalism and deference were strong but it was certainly the case that class tensions between workers and employers frequently conditioned social and political relationships and economic and social policies. The success of the Victorian economy was accompanied by high unemployment, poverty, urban squalor and harsh working and living conditions.

Particularly strong on how the industrial revolution has and might be interpreted. Daunton Oxford University Press, - The most up to date textbook on the economic history of the period. British Society, by Richard Price Cambridge University Press, - A novel view about how the political and social history, as well as the economic history, of the Victorian period should be viewed in the context of changes since the s. The Factory Question and Industrial England, by Robert Gray Cambridge University Press, - Excellent use of variety of sources to contemplate the coming of the factory and the extension of waged work.

Particularly good on shifting constructions of class and gender on regional variations. Visit an industrial museum There are a large number of industrial museums containing machinery from the industrialisation period. Visit a local history library Most larger town and county libraries have a local history section, often very extensive.

Here can be found books about the history of the area, including the period of industrialisation. Such libraries also often contain microfilm or microfiche copies of some primary source materials such as Census returns for the 19th century detailing the residents of all households and local newspapers try reading these to get a flavour of the period and its concerns from business and politics to crime and poverty.

Sometimes such libraries also have printed primary sources such as trade directories listing all firms in a town or region - these often date from the later 18th century, becoming more frequent in the 19th century.

Visit an archive The most easily accessible, important and varied archive collections are housed in County Record Offices. After an initial phase of collective accommodation for young workers, the town leaders radically changed their policy under the Second Empire, privileging small houses intended for occupation by families. Often bought on credit and reserved for the workers deemed most worthy, these houses helped to secure a labour force and to constrain it financially.

The bosses tended also to privilege qualified workers and above all those who were married a sign that they were domesticated or docile , which in turn changed the way the town was populated. The results presented here show that, even if the process were not smooth or without crises, there were strong links between between the labour market, access to housing and marriage opportunities, in an environment in which working in the factory implied much more than being paid a wage.

Industrialization, paternalism and the family.