Industrialisering

"The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in theUnited Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world.

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold.[2] In the words of Nobel Prize winning Robert E. Lucas, Jr., "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth. ... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before."[3]

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Industrial_Revolution.html

Man kan sige, at forskellen mellem arbejderklassen og overklassen stadig var meget stor, men den industielle revolution med b.la. bedre indkomst, boligforhold og generelt bedre levevilkår gorde forskellen mindre.