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> "Why would so many people do this? This factory conditions are quite horrible, or at least the definition of soul-crushing monotony. Because, as horrible as

> "Why would so many people do this? This factory conditions are quite horrible, or at least the definition of soul-crushing monotony. Because, as horrible as the factory conditions might seem to modern eyes, they weren't, in general, as horrible as being an agricultural stoop labor peasant (either in the west in premodern or Victorian times, or in China today). Serfs were running away to the cities way back in the Middle Ages, long before any Enclosure Acts. The expected payoff wasn't nearly as low as it is for acting. While life in the cities wasn't a bed of roses by any means (deaths from infectious diseases were at a horrific level, to name just one downside), the one big advantage was that you no longer had a "master" or "lord of the manor" who essentially had the power of life and death over you. Yes, a factory might have a cruel foreman, and many did, but the workers were allowed to change jobs. Serfs didn't have that privilege.

helpfulmandrill 5y ago
But on the other hand, the Enclosures provoked a number riots[1], so I don't think everyone agreed with you that "free" city life was better than rural serfdom, with common rights intact. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure#Enclosure_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure#Enclosure_riots
- Turing_Machine 5y ago
  Of course everyone didn't agree. People don't work that way. Even today, there are people who prefer living in cabins without electricity or running water somewhere out in the Brooks Range of Alaska. However, most people don't do that (though a large number claim to aspire to something like that, few actually do it, and of the ones who actually do it, even fewer stick it out once the realities set in). The point is that the migration to the cities was in progress long before the Enclosure Acts came on the scene.
  - helpfulmandrill 5y ago
    I'm not sure that is the point. I personally don't think we can treat the choice made by such large numbers of people as comparable to the choices of a few modern cabin-dwelling weirdos. I think we should take seriously what appears to have seemed preferable for large numbers of people at the time, given the information they had, and lacking the benefit of centuries of hindsight.

helpfulmandrill 5y ago

But on the other hand, the Enclosures provoked a number riots[1], so I don't think everyone agreed with you that "free" city life was better than rural serfdom, with common rights intact. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure#Enclosure_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure#Enclosure_riots

Turing_Machine 5y ago
Of course everyone didn't agree. People don't work that way. Even today, there are people who prefer living in cabins without electricity or running water somewhere out in the Brooks Range of Alaska. However, most people don't do that (though a large number claim to aspire to something like that, few actually do it, and of the ones who actually do it, even fewer stick it out once the realities set in). The point is that the migration to the cities was in progress long before the Enclosure Acts came on the scene.
- helpfulmandrill 5y ago
  I'm not sure that is the point. I personally don't think we can treat the choice made by such large numbers of people as comparable to the choices of a few modern cabin-dwelling weirdos. I think we should take seriously what appears to have seemed preferable for large numbers of people at the time, given the information they had, and lacking the benefit of centuries of hindsight.