Western Civilization II / Unit 9 WC2 0816 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Satanic Mills: Blake, Dickens, and Deskilled Artisans
Captions available
The idea
Blake's dark satanic mills and Dickens's Hard Times and Oliver Twist fixed the image. The anchor's cause is the ruthless pursuit of profit: manufacture simplified for cheap unskilled labor, artisans deskilled, hours long, women and children abused. Laws protected horses before children, it says.
In practice
Real wages rose only late in the century.
Where people slip
The characterizations are the anchor's; the laws come at 0820.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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