Working Hours and Conditions during the Industrial Revolution

A Re-Appraisal

Bibliographic Data

ID3475279
AuthorsEric Hopkins (University of Birmingham, corresponding author)
Year1982
Volume35
Issue1
Pages52
Publication date1982-02-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Economic History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2595103
OpenAlexW4244522424, W1977211500
LanguageEN
Citations received18

A though it is generally acknowledged that working conditions might be harsh and hours of work lengthy before the onset of industrial change in the second half of the eighteenth century, there is still general agreement that work discipline subsequently intensified. This is seen as occurring only in textile factories but also in other places of work as industrial capitalism tightened its grip on the labour force. The classic statement of this belief is to be found in E. P. Thompson's article in Past & Present in i967,1 and other historians have expressed similar views, even though their approach in other respects is markedly different from Thompson's. Thus J. D. Chambers remarked that the labour force in the Industrial Revolution was only very much larger, but was worked very much harder.2 M. I. Thomis has made the point that the Hammonds argued that the growth of the domestic industries in the half century after the introduction of steam power was accompanied by deteriorating conditions, and (says Thomis) 'few would quarrel with this view today'.3 In a recent work, Duncan Bythell clearly regards all out-workers throughout the nineteenth century as sweated labour, and suggests that the depressing story is almost unchanged from the handloom weaver and framework knitter of the i83os and 40s to the nailmaker and needlewoman of the i88os and i89os.4 It appears, then, that whether a worker was employed in a textile factory (the most extreme case) or in a small workshop, he suffered a marked deterioration in his life at work-the obvious consequence of the quickening pace of industrialization. Only in the second half of the nineteenth century was there any general reduction in the length of the working day and/or improvement in working conditions. Pollard seems to sum up this view of the earlier period when he observes in a colourful metaphor that the modern industrial proletariat was not allowed to grow in a sunny garden: it was forged, over a fire, by the powerful blows of a hammer.5 Yet in spite of this weight of opinion, some doubts must remain. Even Thompson admits that the imposition of the new work routines was a slow process, sometimes taking several generations (as in the Potteries), and was perhaps never fully accomplished in all sectors of industry.6 Moreover, it is

Economics · Factory (object-oriented programming · Industrial Revolution · Political science · Steam engine · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Emotional Labor in Professions · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law · Management Theory and Practice

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub