How did industrialization change social differences , women in general and labor unions ?

Answer 1

Industrialization changed the way society worked. Before the industrial revolution civilization was based around agriculture for the most part, with only a small amount of the population living in the cities. With the advent of industrialization and mass production, more jobs became available in the cities, providing a huge number of job slots, but also decreasing the requirements for a paying job (before individual craftsmen had created most items, now it was unskilled factory workers). The resulting flood of eligible workers drove wages down as anyone could perform the work and none of the business owners wanted to pay decent wages (to a certain extent this was like a snowball rolling down a hill, once one started, his competition had to emulate or become non-competitive). The decrease in cost of items drove the skilled workers out of business, and pay dropped.

Overall quality of living improved for the upper and middle class as more items were now more affordable, but the low wages and bad working conditions continued to worsen as demand for jobs outstripped supply. The bad working conditions led to the creation of unions as well as labor laws (including those specifically for women and children). Before industrialization there was no reason for labor unions to exist, nor much reason for labor laws, nearly everything was done under the older system of individual and family businesses. Very few large organizations existed and those that did were those that allowed some autonomy (such as trading, shipping, etc.).

The change in social differences largely occurred because it became more difficult for people to make a decent living in the ways that had been possible before, mostly this was because the new methods required adjustments that society and individuals were not capable of making in a small period of time, at the same time it became easier for the rich to remain that way as larger companies allowed easier retention and building of wealth for follow on generations.

The goods and evils of industrialization can be debated endlessly, but, overall, I think they balance each other out.

The paragraphs above are from my personal studies in history, some additional sources for information follow:

Unions
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-77815/United-States

Labor Laws
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_and_employment_law

Industrial Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0858820.html

Hope the above sufficiently answers your questions.

Answer 2

Machinery made more time available for socializing and raising a family. Women could get better paying jobs or stay home to care for the children while the husband made enough to support the whole family. Labor unions got workers better pay, better working conditions and benefits.