Paternalistic Responses to Industrialization

The English government was skeptical of industry's postion on the effects of factory work for moral reasons. Many members of Parliament worried that as people moved out of the countryside into cities, there would be a moral breakdown in society. Those who held this view saw themselves as trying to protect others, as might a father. For this reason, it is known as the paternalistic response.

In 1832, a commission of deputies from the House of Commons investigated working conditions in factories and in coal mines. This group, known as the Sadler Commission, was concerned above all with the employment of children in factories. (Relatively few children at this time went to school; ordinarily children would either go to work on the farm or enter an apprenticeship by the age of 13.) The Sadler Commission was motivated as much by a traditionalist, moral concern for the welfare of women, children and the family as by a concern for the conditions or pay of workers.

After hearing testimony from children who worked up to 12 hours a day for little pay, the commission introduced labor laws into Parliament known as the Factory Acts, which were passed in 1833. These laws prevented any child under the age of 9 from working, and limited those over 9 years of age to 10 hours of work per day and up to 20 hours per week. This paternalistic legislation was the first limitation on factory work conditions.