Before industry the majority of the people worked in rural areas as cultivators or herders, a few were rulers, aristocrats, or priests, and a small number lived in cities as artisans, bureaucrats, or professionals. There was also a slave labor force. After industry there was a disappearance of slavery because the economies couldn't have slave labor but the slaves became part of the highly poor.

Upper class consisted of industry and enterprising busniessmen because they became wealthy and powerful enough to over throw the military and the traditionally privileged classes. The middle class consisted of small business owners, factory managers, engineers, accountants, skilled emloyees, and professionals. The working class consisted of laborers in factories and mines who tended the machines or provided heavy labor for low wages. The working class was influencial in political affairs.

Before industry the family was the basic productive unit and they all worked together to contribute to the welfare of the larger group. When industry came around, economic production went outside of the home and there became a separation between work and family life. The family members in turn led separate lives.

Men gained increased stature and responsibility. A few men were owners or factory managers while the majority were workers of the owners or factory managers. Industrial work was considered more important than domestic work and agricultural and light industrial work which was done by women and children. The family income was mainly from the men's wages so upper and middle class men had increased prestige at home.
Professional men would read books and attend lectures about business or cultural themes. The men would try to put their values into the industrial work force and try to discipline the workers. The men would fine, beat, or fire the workers if they swore, were late, or were absent a lot.
Workers resisted these discipline standards. They would take a "Holy Monday" which means they would not go to work on Monday to lengthen the Sunday worship break. In their leisure time, workers went to sporting events (European soccer or American baseball), gambled, socialized at bars and pubs, and did dog and chicken fights. Middle and upper class tried to suppress this but it didn't work.

Before industry women also worked long hours in agricultural or domestic manufacturing because it was close or at home so they could work and be a mother at the same time. When the industry came along women couldn't work at home or nearby so if they wanted to work they would have to leave their children in another person's care.
Women in the middle class didn't work outside of home and were confined to a domestic space. Women authors described the perfect British woman by saying they should know that domestic work is their life, know that independence in unfeminine, and know that women are lesser than men and should take pride in it.
There was an increase in need for domestic servants in the middle class. One in every three European women became a servant at least for a short period of time. Rural women would travel long distances to find work and would experience an independence from home. Some of these women sent money home but many keep the money for personal uses like creating a dowry or funds for a better job.

Before industry children worked with the family in and around the house but with the industry, kids were ripped away from their homes. Child labor had huge abuse in it but the families needed the money to survive. In the 1840s the British Parliament passed child labor limitation laws and eventually removed child labor.