The Influence of Technology and Society in the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution - Technology and Society

Some people think that it is good to do bad things to achieve something good. Well, that seemed to be the case in Russia and the United States after the Industrial Revolution because in the United States and Russia problems led to solution .The Industrial Revolution caused many problems in both the United States and Russia. Even though the Industrial Revolution caused similar problems, the solutions and results were different. There were many problems in the United States due to the Industrial Revolution. First, some Americans attempted to form monopolies to take over a particular industry. For example, Rockefeller and Carnegie had monopolies in their fields of work (oil and steel). This allowed them to set whatever prices they wanted, and people had to pay for their products because it was the only one available. This made them even more rich and powerful.

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Another problem was the poor work conditions. Workers had to work long hours and do strenuous work for very little pay. The work environment was not a safe one and not a very good one either. Thirdly, the United States economy was not doing so well. With all of the new technology and machinery that allowed mass production due to the Industrial Revolution, there were many business cycles (Depressions and “booms”). During depressions, people had a hard time making money and finding jobs. The stock market was also doing poorly, and there wasn’t much money. During booms, everything was going great. The stock market was doing very well, times were good and money was plentiful. There were many people with jobs and not as many poor people.

In addition, cities were becoming a problem in the United States. Many were working out well in the beginning, but now that industry was booming, people went to the city to find work and live. Overcrowding was a big problem in some areas. Many people that lived in cities had to live in tenements. The conditions there were not very good, and cities were getting dirtier and unhealthy. Diseases began to spread and people got sick and some died. The cities were getting worse and worse. Lastly, due to the diversity of people, and immigration because of the Industrial Revolution, there were many prejudice people in the United States that discriminated against colored people just because of the color of their skin. They were powerless and were not listened to by people.

These were just some of the problems in the United States after the Industrial Revolution. There were also many problems in Russia after they had an Industrial Revolution. Russia had many government problems. The Russian government was a type of government that did not listen to the people. The government did as it pleased without consent from the people. The people had no say in the governing process as in the United States. Due to this there were poor working and living conditions, overpopulation, poor sanitation, not many jobs and many people were starving. The majority of the people in Russia (about ninety percent) were poor and only about ten percent were rich and they controlled the nation. This meant the majority of the nation was not being listened to.

There were also solutions to the problems in the United States. In order to solve the monopoly problem, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed which did not allow monopolies. To help the poor working conditions, unions were formed to unify workers and give them more power. These unions fought for worker’s rights and tried to get laws passed to help them. Some included eight-hour days, six-day weeks and an end to child labor. To stop the business cycles, the United States government made sure there was more gold and silver to back up the money they were printing. One way to do this was instead of only using gold to back up money, silver was used too. Then, The Silver Purchase Act of 1890 was passed, which insured that the government bought a certain amount of silver every year.

This helped by ensuring that there would not be as many depressions because there was enough money to back-up the money being printed. As for the city problems, social reformers fought to make laws to make conditions better. The Pendleton Act was also passed which said that examinations would be needed for public-service jobs. To deal with prejudice people, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People helped colored people fight for their rights as social reformers did. These solutions were helpful to get us where we are today. As for Russia, they also had solutions for their problems. Violence was a solution because the government was not helping and the people tried to do what they could.

The Czar in Russia had complete power and did not allow any laws to be passed. Overthrowing the government and having a revolution was a last resort when there was nothing left to do for the people. They had many problems to deal with and not many ways to solve them. Although the United States and Russia had similar problems, they solved their problems much differently. The United States had a government that was based on listening to the people, and they were able to pass laws and were allowed to fight for their own rights. Russia on the other hand, had a government that was tyrannical and was not built around the people.

Therefore, the people were not listened to at all, and were not able to find answers to their problems as easily as Americans. They had to resort to violence and a revolution to get their point across in an attempt to solve their problems. These differences occurred mainly because of the forms of government, and because of what things were like here and in Russia. In Russia many people were poor and few were rich. In the United States it was a little more balanced out. The solutions to the problems were solved differently in Russia and the United States.

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