Did the coming of factories represent progress? Is progress always necessarily positive?

Factories do represent progress in the strictest sense. They are part of what allowed industrial nations to become economic powers on the world stage. The problem is that there is always a trade-off with pollution being one of them. To the second question, progress is not always positive.

The Industrial revolution happened where i live in England and the area is now called the Black Country because of all the shyte the factories pumped out. We have some of the finest heavy metal contamination youll find anywhere in the world and for many years great water courses like the river Trent ran green. Industrial disesases were rife and wild life was abilterated. We did make a good engine though. so to answer your question no and no.

No to both.

Do you ever pay attention in class????? Do you ever do your own research except on here?????

Of course it meant progress in historical terms. It meant that a country could produce goods which were fairly consistent on a continuous basis. Those goods could have been clothes or machinery. With the ability to produce those goods, a country could meet the needs of their citizens, which made their lives a bit easier and better. More and more people chose to work in factories, which were almost always near a river for power and in cities. This is the beginning of a couple of issues - pollution and urbanization.

With that industrialization though, fewer people were producing the foods and grains that were needed. Fewer farmers tried to keep up with the demand of more and more people. They overworked their lands for years and often basically took the life out of it (re: Dust Bowl years). This is the beginning of another issue.

Most people associate a factory with a dirty, grimy polluting machine. This is based upon what they learned in schools (which you should be doing) and from television of all places. Have you ever seen a factory on television that was not dirty, dark, and nasty? In fact, most modern factories are nothing like that. Most are clean, well lighted, with little threat to the environment. Sure there are foundries and such, which are pretty dusty due to the process, but even those are much cleaner than even fifty years ago. However, most people still have that vision of the conditions of ninety years ago.

Even with those issues of early industrialization, we have actually learned from our past mistakes. We have not eliminated all of those mistakes, but certainly we are making progress.

Tomorrow pay attention in class and read your textbook.

Lc27Junior, we´d love to know what YOU think...

The industial revolution has allowed for more efficient use of time and the increased productions of goods and services. The efficient use on machines has also increased the leisure time for all workers.