History - 2nd Industrial Revolution

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The 2nd Industrial Revolution paved the way for technological advancements that we employ today. However, these advances were not brought about in an ethical way. Men, women and children were forced to work in dangerous environments; children risked their limbs and their lives. For this paper we will discuss child labor in the 2nd Industrial Revolution, what affect investigations of child labor have on the industry and what reforms came out of these investigations. In addition, we will talk about how the 2nd Industrial Revolution create breakthroughs for modern times. During the Industrial Revolution many factories and mines did everything they could to exploit women and children by having them work in less than desirable conditions. Owners of these facilities determined that even though these children could not do the work as most of the men, they were often paid a lot less, if anything at all. In some instances, if the father died or disappeared, it was up to the sons or oldest children in the household to provide for the family. As often times they received more in pay than that of the mother. Children also felt a sense of responsibility towards their mother and siblings. If the father’s income was irregular or insufficient, children set out to work in these factories and mines, and would then surrender their pay to their mother so that she would be able to provide for the family. (Humphries, 2008) On the other hand, children were favored over adult laborers because employers could get about the same amount of work done at a fraction of the pay. There was no need for strength to operate industrial machines and children could learn these machines fast. Their small size was also an advantage in some instances such as mending broken threads, or climbing on machinery to extract something that is blocking its operations. (Park, 2007) Because

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