Cottage industry and in factory production in Western Europe
Before the Industrial Revolution came along, cottage industry was the main part of the people’s lives. Cottage industry was created after the demand of cotton cloth. For the people to make clothes the cottages were provided and that was the people’s workplace. The merchants were the employers and the employees were mostly the people around them who could sew and make clothes, so their relations were close. The working conditions were exceptionally good because they were basically working at their houses. Their family relations were good too because they were mostly working together in the same village, and the standard of living was good because after the cottage industry, the people were earning money by working at their homes making clothes. As the Industrial Revolution came along, the things changed. The employer-employee relations were never good because the employers were making the workers to work like machines for endless hours and since there were
so many workers in the factories, nothing was personal. The working conditions were much worse because of the pollution and also, the family relations were worsening after the Factory Act of 1833 because the sexual division of jobs was taking place. This separated the family members and the relationship was worsening. The standard of living rose after the long wars with France.
As the time went on, the people sought for easier and better ways to work for the merchants. Then, some intelligent scientist farmers started to invent new machines that would do the work for the people much faster. As more and more machines were invented, the Industrial Revolution was gradually starting. Soon, factories were created to put many machines and work them at one time, producing much more and more. The workers were then put in the factories to work the machines and the cottage industry was gradually disappeared. After the Industrial Revolution started, the employer-emp
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