Chapter 6 Work Life And Leisure Cities In The Contemporary World Long Answer Questions
Question 1. Discuss how London emerged as the largest city in the world in the nineteenth century.
Answer:
The city of London became the largest city in the world by the late nineteenth century. It was the most powerful imperial center by the beginning of the twentieth century.
Various factors were responsible for it, as given below:
Causes:
- Increase in population. One out of every nine people in England and Wales lived in London. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain. The enclosures of farms and abolishment of corn laws made many farmers migrate to towns and cities such as London, Manchester, and Leeds. Migrants from rural areas were attracted to the textile mills of Manchester and Leeds in large numbers after the 1850s.
- Colonization and political dominance in global trade led to great wealth and capital, making London the hub of world trade and commerce.
- The population expanded throughout the nineteenth century from one million in 1810 to 4 million in 1880. They constituted aristocrats, administrators, semi-skilled and skilled artisans, workers, traders, beggars, etc.
- Important industries were the dockyards, clothing, footwear, metallurgy, etc.
- During the First World War, London began manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods.
Question 2. Describe how industrialization changed the social status of women.
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Answer:
The upper- and middle-class women faced higher levels of isolation. However, their lives were made easier by the rising number of domestic maids who cooked, cleaned, and cared for young children on low wages.
An 1861 census recorded a quarter of a million domestic servants in London of whom most were women migrants. On the other hand, women who worked for wages, particularly the lower social classes, had more control over their lives.
In cities, individualism replaced the collective value of earlier rural communities.
However, men and women did not share the new urban space equally. Later, many women lost their industrial jobs and the conservative section managed to force women to withdraw into their homes. Hence, public spaces increasingly became male-dominated.
Question 3. How is a large city a threat and an opportunity? Explain with appropriate examples.
Answer:
A large city is a threat and an opportunity. A modern city is also called a metropolis for its complex functions and relations among the dwellers.
It is a threat to the environment and peace because crime rates are high due to the differences between the rich and the poor.
A police superintendent would face difficulty in maintaining law and order.
A city is a place where the weak are exploited by the powerful and the rich, For Example., women and children were exploited in the industrial cities of London, Leeds, Manchester, etc.
On the other hand, it is an opportunity for those who are in power. Landlords benefit by raising the rent as demands for space increase.
It is also an opportunity for women who are wage earners as they become economically independent. Social divisions based on class and caste also break down in different ways like travelling in public transport, etc.
Question 4. Describe the lifestyle of British workers in the nineteenth century.
Answer:
Most of the workers were employed in industries and factories because of the bursting population which led to unemployment and crime and an increase in the number of poor.
Factories employed a large number of women in the early 19th century but they lost their industrial jobs due to technological developments.
Most women worked as domestic servants; of them, many were migrants to London. A large number of children were pushed into low-paid work, often by their parents.
Children took to crime as it earned them more money than honest work. A young thief could earn 10 shillings 6 pence a week from thieving honest work fetched him this money after making 1,296 matchboxes in a day.
Most workers lived in unsafe tenements which were health hazards, overcrowded, badly ventilated, and lacking sanitation. Poor housing was a constant fire hazard.
The workers could only expect a lifespan of 29 years. The workers were expected to die, according to Charles Booth, in a ‘workhouse, hospital or a lunatic asylum.’
There was a widespread fear of social disorder, because of the unhealthy, poverty-stricken life the workers led.
Question 5. When and where was the very first section of the underground railway in the world opened? Describe in brief the difficulties of traveling in the underground railway.
Answer:
The first section of the underground railway in the world opened on 10 January 1863 between Paddington and Farrington Street in London. On that day 10,000 passengers were carried with trams running every ten minutes.
- At first, the people were afraid to travel underground. They found the atmosphere a mixture of sulfur, coal dust, and foul fumes from the gas lamps above and found them a danger to health.
- Most felt the “Iron Monsters” added to the mess and unhealthiness of the city. To make two miles of railways, 900 houses had to be destroyed.
- Streets were knocked up, pits and trenches dug. The underground railway led to a massive displacement of the London poor, especially during the two world wars.
The underground railway broke down social distinctions but also created new ones.
Question 6. What forms of entertainment came up in the nineteenth century in England to provide leisure activities for the people?
Answer:
For wealthy Britishers, there had been an annual ‘London Season.’ Several cultural events, such as the opera, the theatre, and the classical musical performances were organized for an elite group of 300-400 families.
Many new types of large-scale entertainment for the common people came up. Libraries, art galleries, and museums were established to provide entertainment to people who swarmed them.
Music halls were popular among lower classes, and by the 20th century, cinema became the greatest mass entertainer for mixed audiences.
British industrial workers were encouraged to spend their holidays by the sea. Over a million Britishers went to the seaside in 1883; their number increased to 7 million in 1939.
Question 7. Explain the causes of air pollution in Calcutta in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Which body controlled industrial pollution?
Answer:
- High levels of pollution were a consequence of the huge population that depended on dung and wood as fuel in their daily life.
- Main polluters were the industries and establishments that used steam engines run on coal.
- The city was built on marshy land, the resulting fog combined with smoke generated thick black smog and Calcutta’s inhabitants inhaled grey smoke, especially in winter.
- A new pollutant coal – was added by the railways.
The body that controlled industrial pollution was the Bengal Smoke Nuisance Commission.
Question 8. State reasons for the expansion of Bombay’s population in the nineteenth century.
Or
What led to a major expansion of Bombay’s population in the mid-nineteenth century?
Answer:
Four reasons for Bombay’s expansion are:
- When Bombay became the capital of the Bombay Presidency in 1819, the city expanded. With the growth of trade in cotton and opium, large communities of traders, bankers, as well as artisans, and shopkeepers came to settle in Bombay.
- When textile mills were established in Bombay, there was a fresh surge of migration. The first cotton textile mill in Bombay was established in 1854. In 1921, there were 85 cotton mills with about 1,46,000 workers.
- About one-fourth of Bombay’s inhabitants between 1881 and 1931 were born in Bombay, the rest were migrants from a nearby district of Ratnagiri to work in Bombay mills.
- Bombay was a junction of two major railways. This encouraged an even higher scale of migration into the city. For example, famine in dry regions of Kutch drove a large number to Bombay in 1888-89.
- Bombay became a premier city of India in the late 19th century. It dominated the maritime trade of India and its population expanded from 6,44,405 in 1572 to nearly, 15,00,000 in 1941.
Question 9. “The function and the shape of the family were completely transformed by life in the industrial city of Britain in the eighteenth century.” Explain any four points.
Or
Explain the changes that took place in family life in the eighteenth century and promoted individualism in city life.
Answer:
- Ties between the members of the family loosened.
- Among the working classes, the institution of marriage tended to break down.
- Women of the upper and middle class faced high levels of isolation, though their lives became easier by maids who cooked, cleaned, or cared for young children.
- Women who worked had some control over their lives. Women without jobs were forced to withdraw into their camps.
- The twentieth century saw homes as another change, the families became smaller units after the war.
A new spirit of individualism was encouraged among men and women, and freedom from collective values that were a feature of the smaller rural communities.
Question 10. Why did the population of London multiply in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century?
Answer:
By 1750, one out of every nine people of England and Wales lived in London. It was a colossal city with a population of about 6,75,000.
Its population multiplied four-fold in the 70 years between 1810 and 1880, increasing from one million to 4 million. London was a powerful magnet for migrant populations.
The nineteenth century London was “a city of clerks, shopkeepers, small masters, and skilled artisans, growing number of semi-skilled out workers, soldiers, servants, casual laborers, sheet sellers, and beggars.”
London’s dockyards and five major types of industries employed a large number of workers.
The five were: Clothing and footwear, wood and furniture, metals and engineering, printing and stationery, and precision products like surgical instruments, watches, and objects of precious metals.
During the First World War (1914-18), London began manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods, which led to an increase in population as more workers were needed.
Question 11. Explain the characteristics of Marginal Groups in London.
Answer:
- Marginal Groups in London were about 20,000 criminals who worried the police about law and order.
- The people who made a living by crime were in fact poor people who lived by stealing lead from roofs, food from shops, lumps of coal, and clothes drying on hedges.
- Others were more skilled at their trade, experts at their jobs. They were cheats, tricksters, pickpockets, and petty thieves crowding the streets of London.
- Women were forced out of work in factories due to technological development.
- They formed a large group that worked as domestic servants.
- They also worked at home to increase their income by taking in ledgers, working as tailors, wasting, etc., only during the war; they found jobs in factories and offices.
- A large number of children were forced into low-paid work.
- “A child of 7 could easily make 10 shillings led a week from thieving – a low-paid worker had to make 56 gross of matchboxes a week to earn that much” (According to an article by Andrew Mearns).
- Only by the passage of the Compulsory Elementary Education Act in 1870 and the passing of the Factory Acts (since 1872), children were kept out of industrial work.
- So, the marginal groups were the criminals, women were the workforce, and children were forced to work in low-paid jobs.
Question 12. Explain why a number of films were about the life of migrants in the Bombay film industry. Name two movies whose songs became very popular.
Answer:
There were a number of films about migrants because many people in the film industry were themselves migrants. They came from cities like Lahore, Calcutta, and Madras and contributed to the national character of the industry.
Many famous writers like Ismat Chugtai and Saadat Hasan Manto were associated with Hindi cinema. People who came from Lahore now in Pakistan, contributed the most to the development of Hindi cinema.
The films dealt with the arrival in the city of new migrants and the real pressures of life they had to deal with: the two movies are CID (1956) and Guest House (1959).
Question 13. Explain the social changes in London which led to the need for the underground railways. Why was the development of underground railways criticized?
Answer:
Between the two World Wars (1919-39), the responsibility for housing the working classes was accepted by the British state, and a million houses were built for them in suburban areas by the local authorities.
The city had gradually extended beyond the range where people could walk to work. The development of suburbs made new forms of mass transport very necessary.
The London Underground Railway partially solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
Underground railways created huge ecological and environmental problems. The process of construction led to large-scale destruction of forests and other natural features.
Question 14. “The city of London had a powerful migrant population.” Explain.
Answer:
- London had hundreds of small factories and workshops. It was a city of clerks, shopkeepers, skilled and semi-skilled artisans, soldiers and servants, casual laborers, street vendors, etc.
- Apart from London dockyards, five major types of small industries employed large numbers of people.
- During the First World War (1914-18) London began manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods. Hundreds of large factories sprang up employing thousands of workers.
Question 15. Explain the lifestyle of workers of the mid-nineteenth century in Britain.
Answer:
The mid-nineteenth-century workers in London did not have proper houses to live in. They had to find residence in cheap, usually unsafe tenements.
According to a survey by a Liverpool ship-owner in 1887, as many as one million Londoners (about 1/5 of the population of London) at that time were very poor, expected to live upto an average age of 29 as compared to 55 among the gentry and the middle class.
They were expected to die in a workhouse, hospital, or lunatic asylum. There were constant worries about fire hazards created by poor housing.
The one-room houses occupied by the poor were a serious threat to public health. There was a constant fear of uprising by the poor.
The only leisure for the working classes was to meet in pubs and drink, exchange news, and sometimes also organize political action. Crime flourished among workers who did not have jobs.
Children were forced to work for low wages. Women tried to earn by working at home or domestic maids. Later on, there was a drive to build more houses, clean up the city, and provide libraries and museums for the workers.
Workers were encouraged to take annual leave and go to the seaside like Blackpool. Cinema also became a means of mass entertainment.
Question 16. Describe the merits and drawbacks of underground rail in London.
Answer:
Merits:
- It partly solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
- When the first section of the underground in the world opened on 10 January 1863, it carried 10,000 passengers, with trains running every ten minutes.
- By 1850, the trains were carrying 40 million passengers a year. By the 20th century, most large metropolises such as New York, Tokyo, and Chicago had indispensable metro services.
- The population in cities became more dispersed. Better-planned suburbs and a good railway network enabled large numbers to live outside central London and travel to work.
Drawbacks:
- They created more pollution and were considered by people to be a menace to health. Passengers complained of smoking pipes, an atmosphere that was a mixture of sulfur, coal dust, and foul fumes causing asphyxiation. Many people called trains “iron monsters” adding to mess and unhealthiness.
- To make two miles of railway, 900 houses were knocked down. It led to a displacement of the London poor, especially between the two wars.
- They wore down social distinctions but also created new ones.