Final answer:
The Industrial Revolution brought significant changes in society, including urbanization and shifts in family size and gender roles. The increase in industrial jobs led to migration from rural to urban areas, as fewer workers were needed on farms but more were needed in factories. Women played a vital role in both rural and urban settings, contributing to the family's income in pre-industrial times. Family size decreased for middle-class families, while the working class continued to have larger families until children could no longer work in factories.
Step-by-step explanation:
Urbanization and Family Size
As countries move from an agricultural to an industrial economy, there is a major shift in population from rural to urban settings. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century ushered in major technological developments and changes in labor practices, which encouraged migration from the farm to the city. Because of increased mechanization, fewer farm workers are needed to produce larger agricultural yields. At the same time, factories in urban areas have a great need for industrial workers. This shift continued into the information age of the late 20th century and continues in many parts of the developing world in the current century.
Effects on Gender and Family
The Industrial Revolution brought additional changes to gender roles. In earlier agricultural societies women and men had more similar economic roles. Successful farming in the pre-industrial age required all members of the family to work hard to plant, weed, harvest crops and tend animals. Men and women and children may have had different jobs back then, but women were essential to the survival of the family farm. Even in pre-industrial urban areas, families who were engaged in trades or crafts generally required that women play an important role in the production of goods and/or the management of the family business. Geographers point out that during the pre-industrial era, domestic spaces (family houses) were not just homes but also the family's place of economic livelihood. Women and men worked side by side in the home which was a sort of "family factory".
Family Size
Family size was also affected by these changes in the nature of work. In the United States, France, Great Britain, and Germany, by the beginning of the nineteenth century middle-class families had reduced the number of children they had. On the farm, in craft shops, and in early factories, children's labor was still valuable, so the working classes continued to have large families. By the second half of the century, however, children could no longer earn their keep alongside their parents in the factory and instead had to be fed and clothed during their school years from a smaller pool of money. They then became an expense many working-class families could not afford. The inadequate and overcrowded urban housing available to the industrial working class also made large families undesirable.