...Capitalism, Industrialization, and the Factory written by Jonathan Purdue discussing the definition of factories in the early republic. Purdue expresses the need to look beyond the common definition of factories, which focuses on big machinery and increasing numbers of workforce, to the distinguishing key elements of production and increasing output and profits (Purdue, 2006). This paper discusses how modern day conceptions of factories and industrialization affect the interpretation of historical industrialization and provides thoughts on whether the development of factories represents positive progress in the transition to capitalism. Modern Day Conceptions of Early American Factories & Industrialization One of the earliest symbols that man recognizes as a representation of economic change and industrialization in the early republic is the factory (Purdue, 2006). Conceptions of the modern day factory have influenced the oversimplification of the complex nature of what factories in the early republic actually were (Purdue, 2006). When the 21st century American thinks of a factory we immediately think of large concrete buildings filled with machinery and huge clouds of black smoke emitting from tall smoke stacks. This notion of vast centralized technologically-driven structures filled with large numbers of underpaid workers is one stereotypically pictured when imagining what the first factories were like in early America (Purdue, 2006)...
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...The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and its effect on labor. In contrast to modern day, Unions during the industrial revolution lived up to the era, and through demonstrations, strikes, and tragedies, were revolutionized. Making the workplace safer, hospitable, and bringing an end to the horrors seen through tragedy and scandal. Upton Sinclair’s tell-all book “The Jungle” brought the inhumane conditions in the meat packing industry, and gave people an inside look into the day-to-day operations of a factory cloaked in scandal, and expelling filth and disease through out the populations. While such tragedies such as the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire of 1911, brought to the masses another look into what these extreme conditions can do for production, and its employee’s well being. These factors contributed to reforms in the way America does business. The modern union was born, and in its infancy proposed the basis of the way we work to this day. The industrial revolution brought the United States into a technological and production level that helped to bring the US into the world stage as an economic super power. However, this technology and ramp up in production resulted in poor working conditions, the exploiting of children, meager wages, and a sense that the inhumane was routine and normal. The story of a building thought to be completely and safe with state of the art fireproofing and “their owners put had their trust in that.” ("141 men and," 1911) However at about...
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...What changes in the organisation of time, space and discipline are associated with the emergence of modern industrial work? Word Count: 1620 This essay will discuss the changes that occurred in the organisation of time, space and discipline, as a result of the emergence of modern industrial work, whereby society relied upon the use of science, technology and ultimately mechanisation to produce its goods and services. The transition of home based independent work to working for a boss in a factory had many accompanying impacts upon society. Between the years 1300 to 1650, there was a major change in the intellectual culture of Western Europe, towards the apprehension of time (Thompson 1967, p.56). The pre-industrial era was characterized by the organisation work around the four seasons. Work was focused upon the time of year, which would then determine the length of the task and the type of task which would be carried out. Thompson (1967, p.59) suggests there was a disregard for clock time, with focus on the work of Synge; who in his account of the Aran islands states a classic example of this indifference ‘and when I tell them what o’clock it is by my watch they are not satisfied, and ask how long is left them before twilight.’ This suggests during this pre-industrial period, workers were oblivious towards the clock time; rather the time of the day and its proximity to sunset would have a more significant effect in determining their working hours. Although Thompson’s...
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...over the difficulties that were experienced by the lower class factory workers. A change as major as industrialization has a massive impact on society. After the invention of the factory and the start of industrialized life, changes included: women struggling, working conditions deteriorating, child labor beginning, and family roles changing. Following industrialization, women experienced great difficulties in society. Factory wages brought many positive changes to the household but also had unforeseen dangers. The new jobs gave a family a stable income that...
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...society powered by fossil fuels such as coal and crude oil." (Withgott & Brennan, 2009). The resources mentioned in that quote are the biggest issue, in my opinion, that came from the era. Three of the most environmentally negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution are the use of nonrenewable resources, the human population growth, and the changes to people's lifestyles. Our textbook states, "Resources such as mineral ores and crude oil are in finite supply and are formed much more slowly than we use them. These are known as nonrenewable natural resources. Once we deplete them, they are no longer available" (Withgott & Brennan, 2009). Prior to the revolution, society used renewable resources which replenished themselves over days, months, and years. Eric McLamb wrote an article titled, "The Ecological Impact of the Industrial Revolution". The article was posted on September 18, 2011 on the Ecology Global Network. He states, "It was the fossil fuel coal that fueled the Industrial Revolution, forever changing the way people would live and utilize energy. While this propelled human progress to extraordinary levels, it came at extraordinary costs to our...
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...Shaping of the Modern World 5/8/11 Cruel Labor The Industrial Revolution wasn’t the first instance of cruel human labor in the history of the world, but some may argue that it was the harshest. Flora Tristan says in her piece from the London Journal, “Since I have known the English proletariat I no longer think that slavery is the greatest human misfortune.” (1) Cruel labor is an injustice that originated in ancient civilizations, became worse in the eighteenth century, and unfortunately still exists today. No matter what event you choose to focus on, between the Atlantic Slave Trade, to the London Laboring Classes and its child labor, to the more recent sweatshops that still exist in Asia, the pain and suffering these people had to go through and are still going through is not only inhumane, but also immoral. “The London Laboring Classes” is an excerpt from the London Journal by Flora Tristan. The article is broken down into two parts: Factory Workers and Prostitutes. Tristan wrote this article in order to expose the cruelties suffered by industrial workers, women, and slaves, during the Industrial Revolution. It would be an injustice to Tristan if I paraphrase her shocking description of the life of the factory worker, so I’ll quote her directly. “Most of the workers lack clothing, a bed, furniture, a fire, wholesome food, and often even potatoes! They are shut up twelve to fourteen hours a day in mean rooms where they breathe in, along with foul air, cotton, wool...
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...The Day Sisyphus Escaped the Assembly Line The short story “The Sandwich Factory” is written by Jason Kennedy in 2007 and tells the story of a male individual’s time at a sandwich factory in 1994. We hear of the narrator’s low-paid, meaningless job where mechanization has made the workers’ task subordinate and absurd. He works at a conveyor belt that spits out two loafs of bread. The mission of the employers is then to place ingredients in the sandwiches while the product is moving past them. They even rank the different ingredients; “…if you were unlucky or new, it would be tomatoes.” (l. 48, p. 3) Their large attention on such a small subject illustrates the extreme relativism that characterizes the story. We follow an unnamed 1st person narrator, and the story is told through his point of view. We only know that he is a man because someone at the factory wants him to find a female partner (l.93, p. 4). The language of the short story is characterized by a lot of humor and irony, for example the description of Dot, who would have been an excellent pirate, giving both blowjobs and sandwiches to the seagulks (l. 36, p. 3). The character Dot has, like many of the other workers, lost her soul by the monotonous work at the factory and she is now giving blowjobs to strangers at the local nightclub. We also hear of another co-worker who looks afraid every time he interacts with our narrator (l. 42, p. 3) - he is not used to human contact and is alienated from his colleagues. The...
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...The Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on Western society and the effects were numerous and mainly positive. The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 1790’s and spread throughout Europe and eventually to America. The extensive effects of the Industrial Revolution influenced almost every aspect of daily life and human society in some way. During this time period, widespread transportation such as railroads became available and important for the movement of goods and people. Also, new social reforms came about, dealing with critical issues including that of child labor. In addition, the effects of the revolution resulted in a great improvement in living standards for many people. Although the positive affects of the Industrial Revolution were plentiful, there were also several negative affects concerning the issues of railroads, child labor, and certain living conditions. The railroads built during the Industrial Revolution allowed for widespread transportation to now be available for goods and people. Consequently, the coal burned in train engines created great pollution resulting in an unhealthy and dangerous environment for the people. In addition, as European governments became involved with the creation of railroads, taxes increased resulting in the lower classes experiencing greater burdens. Despite these negative repercussions, railroads were beneficial to society in a variety of ways. Railroads created a way for people to quickly and easily move throughout...
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...Modern Day factories Many businesses use modern-day factories to produce items or necessities for consumers. However, there are factories today that involve labor-intensive work and a tight string to walk on when it comes to fair conditions. If we look at China’s production, we will notice that they do not have the same labor laws as the United States, or the same type of EPA guidelines that the USA follows. This allows the Chinese factories to pay their employee’s whatever they want and pollute the environment however they need to in order to make money. This is the main reason that US companies are shipping their jobs overseas. Personally, I think that they need to put an end to these types of factories, or have more supervision on the manufacturing floor. Here in the USA, we like to preach the means or rights of equal treatment and protest those companies taking advantage of their workers. However, we take away American jobs to hurt our worker’s and send them over-sea’s to hurt other people by working them into abuse. As you are reading this, just realize that in China right now, there are companies that are running sweatshops out of their factories. These sweatshops are running humans to insane conditions and pushing them to their limits. Some of these conditions include employee’s not getting paid overtime, being forced to hit an impossible quota in order to receive bonuses, getting pay deductions for no reason, or even worse getting demoted in pay with maintaining the...
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...Zaireen Rahaman Public Speaking: Persuasive Speech Who in here is a vegetarian? For those who did not put their hands up might want to change their minds in the end on how they feel about eating meat or wearing products made from or tested on animals. Most of us grew up consuming meat, wearing clothing made from animals, and has seen animals at zoos or circuses. Have you ever considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved? Animals raised on modern factory farms and killed in slaughtered houses endure unimaginable suffering. I hope once you listen to what I have to say about the routine cruelty involved in raising, transporting, and killing animal for food you’ll join the millions of people to leave meat of their plate and prohibit the cruelty of animals. If slaughter houses had glass walls everyone would be vegetarian. In modern factory farms, animals are jam-packed by the thousands into grimy, enclosed sheds and restricted to wire cages, dirt lots, and other brutal confinement systems. These animals would never have the opportunity to raise their families, or do anything that is of their natural instincts. The majority would not even feel the sun’s rays or breathe fresh air until they are hoarded away on to trucks; headed for slaughtering. ‘Old Mc Donald had a farm’ is not as it once was. If slaughter houses had glass walls everyone would be vegetarian. Chickens have the ability to reason in some instances that are greater than dogs and children yet they are...
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...leads, facilitates and provides tools for the human capital management in the organization. HR sets strategic processes and procedures, runs difficult and complex communication campaigns as the organization attracts the best talents from the job market, retains them with the attractive compensation packages or it develops them in talent development programs. HR runs many processes, which are crucial for the modern organization. We cannot believe that the successful business could exist without the Recruitment and Staffing, Compensation and Benefits, Training and Development or the Leadership Development. However, in the past the companies did not use any of the HR value added processes. The story of Human Resources started as evidence of all employees. It dealt with issues and requests. Nothing more was expected to be delivered. The HR Management history is fascinating. The wars usually change the path of Human Resources in organizations and society. The evolution and background of HR Management It is a paradox of the human history that best things evolve. The history of the modern Human Resources Management is not a deviation from this general rule of the human history. However, the HRM background is older than expected. Army and navy were the first users of advanced techniques to develop their staff. They defined required standard, and they made successful career paths. They were built around the strong leadership. Just compare it to today´s HR Management. The background of Human...
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...“The Sandwich Factory” is a short story written by Jason Kennedy and released in 2007. The story deals with a man who works at a sandwich factory. He is low-paid and is slowly getting tired of many things at the factory; the workers, the manager and especially the conveyor belt. We get an insight in his thoughts about not only the factory, but also his real life. The short story takes place in a sandwich factory in 1994. It seems like the typical factory, with a conveyor belt surrounded by a lot of workers, who seems to be working automatically, just like machines. At the same time, the workers are being controlled by spiteful executives. The managers are not treating the workers right though, and is rating and marking the workers, ranging from “poor” to “excellent”. Even the rating is not done properly by the managers: “Someone always has to be rated excellent; he always chooses whoever had the best legs“ (s. 2, l. 23-24). It’s very downgrading towards the workers and it is one of the things that the main character is annoyed with. It is the same thing every day, over and over again and the factory is similar to a giant mechanism operating non-stop. This is another thing that is aggravating our main character: “[…] where similarly bored and unhappy workers attended daily … “ (p. 3, l. 51-52). He seems very discontented about his job and is noticing everything that he thinks is wrong with the factory. Even the smallest things are annoying him. The hairnets, the cold tomato-slices...
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...Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times In the 1936 movie, Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin plays as factory worker employed alongside other workers on a typical Fordist/Taylorist manufacturing assembly line. In the first 20 minutes of the movie Chaplin portrays in detail what non-mainstream organization and management theorists see as the alienating and degrading nature of the detailed division of work in a modern 20th Century factory environment. The movie shows how under Fordist production methods workers are subjected to close senior management and first-line management surveillance and control at the point of production, made possible by a moving-production-line which allows managers to determines the pace of work (control over the speed at which workers perform their roles) and the duration of work (how long workers remain at their work stations between breaks). When the Fordist moving manufacturing-line was invented in 1911 it was celebrated as something of revolution in production. It allowed management to radically improve productivity by exercising close constant control over the pace of production, the flow of parts through the production process, and the role and performance of each individual worker along the assembly line. This form of production brought into being the systematic ‘mechanization’ of work designed for the purpose of improving factory output and efficiency. The performance of productivity benefits of Ford’s assembly line system of mass-production for mass-consumption...
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...The Industrial Revolution is by far one of the most significant effects in human history. This revolution stimulated economic growth, urbanization, gender roles, broke apart traditional family structures and started the development of modern day economy. Major changes that occurred in the Industrial Revolution were the invention of the machines to do the work of hand tools, the use of steam, and the start of factories. Before, the Industrial Revolution, the products that were produced were all handmade and took a very long time to create. This is because each product was made individually, the person who created the product had to teach themselves how to make it and had to be a skilled worker. With the invention of machines, people no longer...
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...He provided decent housing for his workers and established schools for children. Owens hated the modern factory system as he believed the factory system stole the joy of working class lived. The modern factory system forced the working class to replicate boring work all day. Owens created a factory where the workers had the same wages and all shared the means of production. He ended child labor and offered insurance plans that were paid for by payroll deductions. Owens later went to the U.S. and created his Utopian town of New Harmony, which was based off of the same principles...
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