Social question facts for kids
The social question is a term that describes the big social problems that came with the Industrial Revolution. This was a time when countries changed from being mostly about farming to having many factories and cities. It also happened when populations grew very fast.
These problems included things like poverty, poor living conditions, and low wages. They affected farmers, workers, and people in small businesses. In England, these changes started around 1760. In Germany, they began in the early 1800s.
The term "social question" was used in Germany (soziale Frage) and France (question sociale) by the 1840s.
At first, the main issues were widespread poverty (called pauperism) and people not having a secure way to live. This led to workers going on strike and even riots.
Over time, the problems changed. From about the 1850s to the 1870s, factories grew a lot. But many small home-based industries and traditional crafts struggled. After 1870, Germany became very industrialized. The social question then became mostly about the problems faced by factory workers.
Many people moved from the countryside to big industrial cities. Political leaders and the public worried about how to help these new city dwellers and factory workers fit into society. Different ideas were developed to try and solve these problems.
What Happened Because of It
The social question led to many important changes. There were riots and strikes, and people started forming trade unions and political parties to fight for workers' rights.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote a famous book called the Communist Manifesto. They tried to explain the problems caused by industrialization and suggest solutions.
In Germany, the government (called the German Kaiserreich) created social laws. These included things like public health insurance, a pension system (money for people after they retire), and unemployment insurance. These laws aimed to give people more safety and prevent big social uprisings.
Even today, it's a challenge to produce many goods and create wealth for some people, while others remain poor. This is still an important economic and philosophic problem to solve.
The European Union (EU) works to make sure people have social rights. This helps to avoid the kinds of problems that made up the social question in the past.
