The Industrial Revolution greatly affected social roles in Europe during the nineteenth century. New, larger factories utilized improved steam-driven machinery and a new working class was developed, primarily in Britain. With these factories, the population in cities increased, known as urbanization. Laborers in these new factories became know as the working class. Furthermore, there were alterations relations between men and women and gender roles seemed to gradually disappear. By the 1890s, workers and women who had limited rights and political power in nineteenth-century Europe were organizing to demand full civil rights, increased political participation, or even national independence. .
Due to rapid urbanization, there was no order in these rapidly growing European cities. Factory workers suffered from poor working conditions and lived in unsanitary and unsafe buildings. Some employees labored through twelve-hour work shifts, with poor nutrition, poor living conditions and completing tedious tasks. Before the Industrial Revolution, these people were self-employed, which was less demanding and allowed them to work at their own rate. After the Industrial Revolution, they worked for other people and therefore lost control over their own lives and schedules. With these factory jobs, workers were able to provide themselves and their families with food and clothing, but they did not have a quality of life, which is essential for every human being to be satisfied.
In the late nineteenth century, with increased improved technology, there was less of a demand for skilled workers in the factories. The machinery was much more advanced allowing almost anyone to easily operate. Employers hired unskilled workers since they were willing to work for lower wages. Also, they were so desperate that they would work extremely long days. Because of the new factory ways, joblessness and destitution became more common.