The rising importance of machinery during the industrial revolution period brought about substantial changes in society. Among the most important change that machinery brought about as increased efficiency at work, increased employment opportunities, increased production and expansion of factories. Most importantly, the increasing importance of machinery substantially changes the worker's opinions on their jobs, how the employers saw their employees and how the poor saw the poor.
Worker’s Opinions on their Jobs
As the machinery became increasingly used in running the factory operations, especially for handling recurring jobs, workers began developing new attitudes towards their jobs ( Smithsonian Libraries, 2020) . The workers started feeling that their jobs were dull and that they needed to find a better purpose for themselves. This is because machines now run most of the jobs they were handling in the factories. Also, the workers started feeling that their jobs were less rewarding and that there was a need to come up with ways of increasing their income ( Rafferty, 2020) . Consequently, worker unions came up to fight for employee rights and increase their wages.
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Employers on their workers
Increasing use of machinery in the factories reduced the employee jobs in the various factories. Employers began viewing their employees less important and concentrated less on their wellbeing. This is because they believed they only needed a few employees to handle the few jobs that could not be done by machines, such as operating the machines. The employers began concentrating much on the output and ignored their employees’ wellbeing ( Rafferty, 2020) . Consequently, the employment workplace became less favourable, with high workplace accident rates and low wages for the employees. Employers also reduced their interaction with the employees and thus, could hardly understand the situation in the workplace.
Wealthy on the poor
The wealthy people in the community-owned the factories or performed managerial roles in the factories in the period. They began treating the poor counterparts ruthlessly by showing no regard for their wellbeing in the workplace ( Smithsonian Libraries, 2020) . Wealthy people's view of the poor was reflected much on the kind of treatment they showed towards their workers in the factories. Also, wealthy individuals began seeing the poor as less deserving and kept distance by finding their neighbourhoods with rich people only. Their interaction with the poor counterparts substantially reduced as they could not be reached easily by the poor.
Conclusion
The increasing importance of machinery in the industrial revolution period, therefore, brought about changes in the perspectives of employees to their jobs, employers to their employees and the wealthy on the poor. Workers began feeling that their jobs were less rewarding and boring, employers feeling that employees were less important for their industrial production hence, setting low wages, and the wealthy feeling that they needed not to interact anymore with the poor. Therefore, as discussed in the essay, increased involvement of machinery had both positive and negative impacts on the society.
References
Rafferty, J. P. (2020). The rise of the machines: Pros and cons of the Industrial Revolution . Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-rise-of-the-machines-pros-and-cons-of-the-industrial-revolution
Smithsonian Libraries. (2020). Rise of the machines . https://library.si.edu/exhibition/fantastic-worlds/rise-of-the-machines
