Was Life Better Before The Industrial Revolution?

it seems that the more tchnologically advanced we become, "life" becomes less about "surviving" and more about more interesting things.

 

Living at the bottom generally sucks. But now we are much more comparing lifes to others. It's why we all have the same stuff and seemingly crave the same things and have the same standards. Back then people used to compare their situation to those of their neighbours too but not much further. Hell, when we look at medieval times and later on a lot of them never travelled beyond their town.

I'm not sure what is funny or remarkable about those at the bottom having it the worst. Isn't that what it means to be at the bottom? It's only logical they're perceived to have the suckiest lifes.

 

Obviously those at the bottom have the worst lives. It's a question of degree though. It's hard to say if the sum total of human suffering is greater or less now than in the middle ages. Since the numbers have increased dramatically, maybe there's more now.
But on the other hand, those who are not in subsistence poverty no doubt have it better in many ways.

 

Too many diversions to actually take care of ourselves in the way our ancestors did. I was raised by my gramma, who was born in 1884. She canned enough food to last us

for quite a while and she did it every year. If for some reason grocery stores shut down, this country would come to a chaotic halt. I think that we have let our independence

slip away from us in many ways. Our oil and gas industry have us pretty much under control in this modern world. Wouldn't have been the same with horses. YOU controlled

your own transportation then. I'm not a luddite--the vast amount of information available now, medical advances and other perks of modernity, certainly have made life

pleasant for us in many ways. At least in the "first world." I know and have talked to folks who never noticed the crash and subsequent hardships that many went through

in the time between 1929 and 1941. Including my gramma and she did her food storage prep using a wood stove until 1949.

I suppose when people left farms enticed by "a better life'" to work in factories back in the day, began the heavy dependence on paychecks to survive , thus leaving their

fates to others.

 

People have never been pleased when their needs were not being met.

When it's miserably hot outside, you just want to get cooled off. It doesn't matter who else has air conditioning, and who doesn't. It's not about other people, in that moment.

 

Sure, but it seems people have less 'needs' if they don't know about what they're missing. Air conditioning may be a good example What I'm saying is many people that were perceived to live at the bottom in regards of influence, income etc. in for example medieval times could actually have been very happy and lived good satisfactory lives because they were just living their own lifes. Especially those outside of towns and cities, who were basicly self providing. They had no money to spend, they had no influence or power over other people but they were completely free and had to rely on nobody (until they got sick or something but that didn't matter much back then if you were at the top or bottom of society ).
Frankly it is also so that a lot of people endured much more back then without thinking of this should be better. If you don't think or dream of a better situation because you don't have a clue that it could be better you are more complacent with the current situation. If you're complacent with the current situation (for whatever reason) you live a better life then when you're not complacent about your situation. This is what I mean with life back then would not have been better for most of us (because we're adjusted to our lifes), but it would be for a lot of them. People in towns or cities who took notice of the nobility or the wealthiest merchant near them obviously grew less complacent because they had something to compare their own situation to.

 

Pathetic. I've known some people who were like that, and I couldn't stand to be around them.

 

You are thinking of people that do not think/dream of and improve their situations even if they could come up with something or take notice of others, I guess? This is not what I was talking about People being complacent with their situation and own way of life in a time there was a lot of space to keep to yourself are not pathetic by definition at all of course. Being complacent and satisfied by living within your means and/or your current situation actually can make for a happier person and a better life than someone who has a quite opposite mindset. It all depends on the person and their life. None is pathetic by default.

It may seem pathetic from our point of view that people in medieval Europe didn't think of a thing like air conditioning for example, or for a perhaps better example: that they didn't think of certain hygenienc precautions we now take for granted but it actually does not make them pathetic They lived in a different time with a different set of knowledge and their mindsets were suited better for it than ours are now.
It often seems everyone in the dark ages were pathetic or had pathetic mindsets. This is all mainly due to how we are perceiving the world. It's the same with our fellow humans in different parts of the world right now. We seem to often look down on other people's mindsets or cultural traditions and perceive them to be pathetic pieces of shit because of it, but we are merely judging them from our own very subjective perception. People from our society a few generations ago (ok, that's already a slightly different society, but you get the gest: people from the same cultural roots but a few generations earlier) would perceive other cultures and the people in it that we now often perceive as backwards far less pathetic and different as their own. It's all due to our own cultural and societal changes that we perceive medieval people and their mindsets as pathetic, simpletons or really primitive. While they were just rowing with the paddles they had, and it seems they often did a great job with it! People in earlier times were at least as creative as us as it seems, although they mainly focussed it on their own basic needs and worked only with the stuff available to them.

 

That's a completely different thing.

They knew when they were physically miserable, and most wished there was something they could do about it.

Extreme religious indoctrination was a major issue, which has been discussed here before in great detail. Faith over facts.

 

Well, we may be thinking of specific things when you say pathetic! and I say what I said.

I am picturing more like things like sleeping in the hay or straw for most of your life. Being busy with your household and crops and lifestock all day every day (but feeling fully good about it. That's life man!). Indoctrination is an issue of all times, religious or not. Even though there was a consensus in society back then in which the prevailing religion played a large role, there were still many many 'illegal' (declared so by the prevailing religion of course) offshoots of those religion which proves not everybody by far was indoctrinated to the same mindset. Another example of how not all people were obliged to conform to such a thing back then. Also, even though there was a prevailing consensus it was not as widespread and teached to everyone to the extent we are now all teached a certain consensus. People really also did had their own mindsets back then, I think you would encounter far more unique and individual thinkers back then. Not sure it would suit you though, as it does not have to mean they thought in a way we like They just had to rely more on themselves in deed AND thought than we. After all, are we less pathetic because we grow up with the idea of democracy and that it is the best form of government there is? It is just teached to us. Some of us don't even vote regardless. I would say that make such people more pathetic than those back then who were clueless about what democracy could mean for them.

 

I think people tend to fantasize too much about farm life. A farm looks peaceful and relaxing from a car window. Farming can be very stressful, constantly dealing with weather extremes, natural pests, animal health issues, and unstable commodity prices. The farmer may look at your car passing by and wish he was you.

Where? Not here!

 

In medieval times? Who knows?! They would be native american there though. But that is not what I am focussing on here of course. I know more about european medieval life. And of that I can say it really was not all bad. Especially if you consider they were adapted to it.

Farming has changed enormously over the years. Many were convinced living a life of hard work was the shit. Not that they came to that conviction like most self employed people nowadays do, but because it was the only way to a good life (except if you had noble blood or something). Not working hard was not really a wise choice for most back then. A lot of people were small farmers, or were farming with a goat or cow and some crops besides their profession just in order to get some more food on the table.
Those who solely focussed on farming in medieval times sure had it hard at times, but what really crushed them were the periods where their lords were demanding most of their harvests. That's when they were pitied most by other people. Other times they lived quite the life (compared to many others back then), eating the freshest fruits and meat, indulging in their own wine, often having more space for yourself etc. Of course it wasn't all peachy, but it wasn't all that horrible either. Especially if we compare their lifes to others in towns and cities, and not to our lifes right now.

 

The problem for people back in the middle ages was that they had only the one set of ideas about reality - religion. From that they took their entire world view, and there wasn't really any other way for them to think about things. They had no real choice. No alternative model existed at that period.
They knew they were miserable, but they were taught that misery is the nature of this life. The only hope they had was for some better afterlife, but they thought most people would be going to hell.

Still, like our friend Asmo says, they probably did feel some happiness and maybe some contentment now and again.

It's very different nowadays with religious indoctrination, because we do have other ways to view the world and hopefully make some sense of it.

 

Many old classic oil paintings survive, depicting harvest festivals and dances, and images of the wealthy landlord class hunting foxes and taking leisurely carriage rides along the river. The passage of time has distorted the fact that such scenes were rare for common people. Same is true for the Old South, with its spectacular plantation houses; some still open for public tours. My ancestors didn't live in one. They were struggling to survive on nearly worthless land.

As we've discussed before, most parts of the US were spared the horrors of London's early industrial period, because we were lagging behind in technology. We only know what Charles Dickens wrote about it. In most places, our experience has not been too bad.

 

Well, those exact scenes maybe. But they had there own joyous events. Just because they had less luxury does not mean they were less happy or had bad lifes. Well, from our perspective we would still perceive their lifes as miserable (sleeping in hay example, or in the same room as their lifestock) but it was just a normal way to live back then! That can make all the difference.
There are many paintings with such subjects as festivals and dances and people eating but with farmers and peasants as well I don't think that distorted much for people today though. Anyone who studies the medieval times a bit finds out it was a hard life for most with big ups and downs and they really had a need for things as carnivals, holidays, wedding parties etc. etc. which for a lot of people was the best way to take a break from normal life

 

OMG!!!

 

There were really all kinds of mindsets and beliefs. If we study history we can see that people shat on rules (of the church/religion) back then too And besides the official religion and accepted consensus pagan beliefs were still rampant too. The people back then of course did not had only the set of ideas about reality from religion but also from their own life experience and those of their community, which was not just guided by religion but also cultural tradition (which often still involved local (pagan) elements. Besides the general accepted consensus (which, depended on where and how you lived ,was not always that unformly indoctrinated) many had their own ideas and views.

 

I'm starting to see the picture you're painting as post-industrial agriculture, not pre-industrial.

 

Yes, the lifestock was generally on the other side of the room but still And even more.... It was still common practice in certain parts of Europe for farmers (although it became rarer) in the 19th century.

 

Their shit doesn't stink in pictures, but...