Industrialization, which has begun in Britain during the 18th century, caused rapid change in the manufacturing of goods. The revolution of industry has invented many ways to produce goods in much faster and efficient ways, making our lives easier. It emphasizes the usage of machines and labor power. The basic needs of human such as food, water, housing and transportation become more easily available. The rapid improvement of industrialization also gives way to the development of technology. This caused a breakthrough in the daily lifestyles of human. However, every success comes at a cost. Therefore, industrialization has negative effects both on the environment and the human relations. The major downsides of industrialization are increased rate of unemployment, social diversity and factories’ residues that are harmful to the environment.
Industrialization first started during the 18th century, producing goods in factories with rapid speed using laborers and machines. These factories created many job opportunities. These job opportunities attract many immigrants to come from all over the world come to industrialized countries. But the working conditions in the factories were terrible. The workers had to work for long hours without rest. They would work in long assembly lines where they would repeat the same work again and again. The pay wages were also terrible especially for women and workers from different ethnicity because of gender inequality and racism. Moreover, many workers died from stroke, malnutrition, stress and other kinds of diseases due to factories’ unsafe working environment. The results are industrialization are growth of economy, efficient laborers and the use of technological innovations (Kenton, 2019).
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Changes in Lifestyle
Industrial revolution not only give rise to economic situation of a country but also invented many machines that help the daily lifestyles of human. Therefore, industrialization has also affected the lifestyles of human. The lifestyles of people nowadays are greatly different from those of before industrial revolutions. For example, before industrialization people had to do the house-work personally or hire a maid to do the chores. Industrialization invented many machines such as refrigerators, dish washers, washing machines, ovens and stoves reduced the time required and the amount of energy needed for the process. They are very useful that they become essential tools in everyday life. Nowadays, people spend less time on the house work they focus more on education and entertainments. However, there are also some downsides of industrialization that affects the lifestyles of people. Today, many people eat a lot of fast- foods. These foods took less time to prepare and you can eat them anywhere which made them very convenient. But fast foods are usually made from cheap ingredients and contain sodium to preserve the food. Fast foods contain many sodium, fats and cholesterol which can cause many health deficiencies such as high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity (Health Guides, 2017).
Increased Rate of Unemployment
The world population has increased greatly after industrialization erupted in the 18th century ('World Population by Year', 2017). The growth of population means that more people will be working hard to support their families. Thus, goods need to be produced faster. Therefore, many large factories started using a lot of workers. Many factories use a method called ‘McDonaldization’. McDonaldization is a process where the work is based on four primary concepts, efficiency, calculability, predictability and control (Crossman, 2019). In McDonaldization, the process of production is divided into many simple tasks where workers would repeat the same work again and again. Due to its simple works procedure, there is no need to hire talented workers. Therefore, workers have less value and they could be easily replaced.
Nowadays, industrialization is booming and economy is the main support of a country. The growth of industry also give rise to technological development, which led to the invention of robots. Robots are the best tool to produce goods in the most efficient way since they do not get tired or injured. Robots may have technological errors but they are useful in areas where the work environments might be harmful or dangerous for human workers such as chemicals, high temperature and radioactive waves. Moreover, robots do not complain about long working hours, low pay wages and factories can throw them away or repair them if there is an error in their functions unlike workers where companies should pay compensation if someone got injured. Many factories begin to use robots in large scale production (Shewan, 2017) Nowadays, robots are also capable of replacing workers in service centers and white –collar works (Freshair, 2018). Therefore, increased rate of world population and development of machines cause less job opportunities for workers.
Effects on Environment
In addition, technology has grown drastically by industrial revolution. The development of technology give rise to many innovations such as robots and machines to produce goods faster, develop new vaccines to cure diseases and vehicles to transport both goods and humans. These new innovations required resources to operate. Due to the increasing of the world population, resources are depleting much faster. Factories’ residues can cause environmental problems and serious diseases.
Air Pollution
Industries get the energy required to operate from burning natural resources such as coal, oil and gas. But burning large amounts of fossil fuels release lots of gases and chemicals into the air which reduce the air quality. Air pollution can cause serious diseases such as lung cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Honeywell, 2017). Environmental problems such as global warming, climate changes, acid rains and depletion of ozone are also caused by air pollution.
Water Pollution
Some residues produced from industries contain chemicals. These toxins can end up in local water supplies in the form of gas, liquid or solid; decreasing the amount of fresh water available. Moreover, some wastes are often dump into the nearby lakes and streams which flow into river and into the sea. This action not only destroy the sea but also cause harm to the creatures living in it.
Conclusion
Although the evolution of industry has contributed a lot in developing lifestyles of people, replacing a lot of man power with machines and robots has caused the poor labor workers to lose their jobs. Thus, making their lives more miserable because these laborers have limited education and money. They could only depend on their physical abilities to survive. If they were to be replaced there would be no place for them to work to survive. Industrialization not only produce many waste products but also deplete many natural resources. These may cause the risk of destroying the source of natural resources. The society cannot afford such possibilities.
References
- Crossman, A. (2019). McDonaldization and Why Sociologists are Not Lovin' It. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/mcdonaldization-of-society-3026751
- Fresh Air. (2015). NPR Choice page. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/05/18/407648886/attention-white-collar-workers-the-robots-are-coming-for-your-jobs
- Health Guides. (2017). Fast Food Facts. Retrieved from https://youngwomenshealth.org/2013/12/05/fast-food/
- Honeywell. (2017). Diseases Caused by Air Pollution - Honeywell Air Purifier. Retrieved from https://www.honeywellsmarthomes.com/blog/diseases-caused-by-air-pollution/
- Kenton, W. (2019). Industrialization. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industrialization.asp
- Shewan, D. (2017). Robots will destroy our jobs – and we're not ready for it. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/robots-jobs-employees-artificial-intelligence
- 'World Population by Year'. (2017). World Population by Year - Worldometers. Retrieved from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
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