Child Labour

The use of working-class children to provide much of the labour force for the Industrial Revolution was merely an expansion and extension of an already long-established practice of working-class children employed by farmers or artisans. The working conditions were highly debated.

On one hand, children worked under deplorable conditions and were being exploited by the industrialists. “Parish apprentice children” were some of the first children to be brought into the factory setting, who had been taken in by the government and placed in orphanages, and were not paid  for the work they did; the compensation in basic needs was considered enough and in many cases just barely enough to survive on.

On the other hand, some were looking at the value that came from the labor provided by these children. In many cases these were the factory owners and managers who benefited from the labor. They would argue that the children’s employment was beneficial to “the child, family, and country ".

The new social order that the Industrial Revolution brought, made the children became part of the workforce because they were young and easily taught while being obedient and respectful of authority, while some affirm that Child labour was the crucial ingredient which allowed Britain's Industrial Revolution to succeed. But, of course, in those times, the concept of childhood  was nule,  and authoritarianism  was seen different, child labour not being the only example, but also can be seen in education. Based on today’s standards and Children's rights, it would not be considered acceptable for children to be working, but that was the result of the debate that started because of child labour in factories and mills in the Industrial Revolution.