Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

HISTORICAL CONTEXT. The technological innovations that gave rise to the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century introduced the first capitalist economy, opening social and financial opportunities to people who had never had the chance to gain status or wealth under the rigid hereditary class hierarchy of the past. These opportunities enabled people born into lower classes to raise their standing in society by making money and acquiring education—this is apparently what happens to Mr. Bounderby (although he isn't quite as self-made as he claims). In many cases, however, it furthered the poverty of the working class, as the factory owners took advantage of their own success and the demand for labor and mistreated their factory workers. Unions were formed, but weren't always effective in fighting the abuses of the manufacturers, and sometimes were more of an evil than the evils they were originally created to combat. This is the case at Stephen Blackpool's mill.