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A Society of Employees! Author: Sara Chavarria Editor: Stephanie Nardei Time: 30 minutes Preparation Photocopy Handout 1 and Handout 2 . If photocopied Time: separately, staple together. Print Overheads 1 and 2. Materials: Overhead 1: Classifieds and Pink Slips Overhead 2: Questions for Handout 2. Handout 1: The Industrial Revolution Handout 2: Technology and Jobs

Abstract Having explored how industry is made up of a relationship between the business, the worker, and the landscape in the previous lesson, this lesson addresses how technology affects jobs and the implication for business during a specific time period: The Industrial Revolution in America--it explains how technology changed the relationship between employer and employee. The advent of the industrial age resulted an unfair economic production system based on low wage jobs to the business owner’s benefit.

Objectives Students will be able to:- 1. Differentiate the employer/employee relationship before and after the introduction of new technology through note-taking research using the Industrial Revolution as a point of reference.

National Council for History in the Schools: Historical Thinking Standards  Standard 2G: Draw upon visual data, literary, and musical sources.

United States History Standards Era 6 Standard 1: How the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed the American people.

Teacher Background The previous two lessons support introduction of how employer and employee relationship changed during the Industrial Revolution.

Related and Resource Websites http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us/schools/s090/history/industrial_revolution. htm

Activity 1. Hand each student copy of Handout 1 to read. As they read, have them write on left side of the reading key concepts and words illustrating the discussion. 2. After reading, have them write the following question in their notes: Why do you think the new type of laborer got paid so little? What does this idea of unskilled labor imply about work during the Industrial Period? 3. Answer: The laborer of little skill is easily replaced and cheaper to employ. 4. Display Overhead 1: Does standardization have anything to do with new employee qualifications? Answer: Yes – since you only need to know a piece of the machine, less skills are required.. Basically, mass production made it easy for anyone to work without the benefit of an education or formal training. 5. Supportive Notes illustrating how much the factory as an employer of hundreds of workers increased after 1870: In 1870, McCormick reaper plant in Chicago employed about 500 workers.

By 1900 in the United States:  there were 1000 factories employing between 500-1000 workers each;  there were 400 factories employing more than 1000 workers each;  there were 3 steel plants and 1 locomotive works employing 8000 workers each.

-The time of Big Business and the employee run factories had been born. 6. Pick up Handout 1 and give students a copy of Handout 2 referencing answers for the following (listed on Overhead 2);  While there are instances in which technology leads to job loss since a machine can work faster than humans, technology can also lead to job security. Explain.  What are the three characteristics of Production?  The Factory represented the creation of an “on the job” existence. Workers could assemble one part over and over without needing to know how all the parts connected. This assembly line technique was revolutionized by whom and for what industry product?  Supervision and coordination of such large numbers of employees made close managerial control possible. How was managerial control an important characteristic of production at the birth of the Industrial Revolution? Fill in the chart to answer.

Before the Industrial Revolution After the Industrial Revolution (answers) Contract rules set by both employer and Contract rules set by employer. employee. The laborer is skilled and an independent The laborer is unskilled so is strictly worker. regulated and given duties on need to know basis. The employer and employee know each Impersonal relationship exists between other. employer and employee. They don’t know each other. Work hours negotiated within daylight Long shifts for a longer work day into the hours. night. Few managerial personnel between the Extensive hierarchy with several employer and the employee. managers in between the employer and employee.

7. Final Question: How did technology define business, the city landscape, and the American worker’s role during the Industrial Revolution? Supportive questions:  What was the work day like?  How powerful was the manager’s role?  Who got wealthy from this system?  Was distribution of wealth fairly balanced? 8. Review possible answers with students and list on overhead for them to take notes. Ensure their answers cover the information given below. Answer: One result of this new inter-dependence between jobs and technology was the advent of mass production. But as noted, it meant that the worker was disenfranchised. The worker was another tool to achieve profit for the business. The manager’s role grew as the enforcer of work rules and control, but it was the business and its owners that truly became wealthy with this system. They managed to acquire wealth by increasing production through new technologies that allowed them to get away with hiring cheap labor, enforcing long working hours, and mass producing a desirable product for consumption.

Closure The above answer to the final question is incomplete. It addresses the role of business and the worker but what about the landscape during the Industrial Revolution which was primarily the city. It was in the city that business was usually located and where workforce could be found in large numbers. A final question must be posed: With increased production comes increased industrial waste, how does that alter the landscape and where does it go?

Embedded Assessment Note-taking.

Homework none