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The Working Class

Driving Question: How did workers respond to the conditions of industrial life?

In this lesson, you’ll explore what life was like for the growing working class, how people responded to harsh conditions, and how new ideas like socialism emerged to challenge industrial capitalism.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Use evidence to understand the impact of new economic theories and the modern system of social classes.
  2. Use the historical thinking practice of causation to analyze why members of the working class demanded reform.
  3. Use a graphic biography to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives from this period.
STEP 1

Opener: The Working Class

Start by examining how social and economic hierarchies shifted over time. These images will help you think about how industrialization changed who held power, and how workers responded to their place in society.

STEP 2

The Working Class

These materials show how industrialization changed both factory work and social class structure, helping us understand the growing divide between groups.

STEP 3

Challenging Industrial Capitalism

These materials show how the working class rose up to challenge the problems created by capitalism, and how thinkers like Marx imagined a different future.

Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History #33 External link

In this video, John Green describes how capitalism and socialism came into being and the principles that are important to each system.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
Extension Materials
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Consider the impacts of industrialization through the resources below—either through developing a written argument or a simulation that puts you inside nineteenth-century economic systems.
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Playing the Systems

Explore capitalism and socialism through a fast-paced classroom game. As you play through different rounds, you’ll see how resources get distributed and reflect on how those systems connect to the social and political movements of the industrial era.