The 19th century marked huge changes for the Victorian society. These changes were brought about by industrialisation and urbanisation. Industrialization as one identifies, is the increase in technology and infrastructure in an area. The introduction of new factories and industrial areas lead to an increase in the availability of jobs. As a result, with industrialization, came urbanisation – the term which refers to the mass movement of people from rural areas to centralised urban areas. This generally happens once there is growth in an economy where that economy now holds more resources and therefore, more jobs. Urbanisation takes place due to large amounts of people moving closer to areas with high job availability in search of employment, a better life and industrial workers wanting to live close by to their place of employment.
Although the above sounds very appealing and beneficial, it also actually caused a lot of harm including social, health and population linked problems. The industrialization led to appalling living conditions. New socio-economic classes were created. The factory owners became richer. The farmers who moved from the rural settlement and got jobs in industry became the middle class, and those who stayed in the farming industry were now the lower class. The working conditions were ridiculous and unsafe. Child labour became a norm. The working class were expected to work long hours; nothing could be done to rectify this, as there were no laws protecting workers from unfair labour. Work environments had no systems, safety precautions or health inspectors. The mining conditions were even worse than the factory conditions. People who worked in the mines often ended up with lung diseases. The urbanisation led to the overcrowding of the city and many lives were compromised. Settlements were built around the industry and the unavailability of proper sanitation led to people offloading their waste directly into the sewer.
