"In the manufacturing districts of Lille, of Mulhouse, and of Lyon, the lodging of the workpeople is generally miserable. The rooms where they sleep are narrow, low, and ill-ventilated. In many places, the father, mother, and children sleep in the same room, often in the same bed, without regard to age or sex. Exposed to the humidity of cellar dwellings, the working-class populations of these manufacturing centers show an alarming rate of physical degradation compared to agricultural workers of the same regions."
— Louis-René Villermé, French physician and social reformer, Tableau de l'état physique et moral des ouvriers (Table of the Physical and Moral State of Workers), 1840
Which of the following nineteenth-century developments was the most direct cause of the conditions described in the passage?
- The rapid, unplanned urbanization that accompanied the transition to steam-powered factory productionCevap
- BThe introduction of electricity and petroleum as the primary energy sources for industrial manufacturing
- CThe scientific validation of Social Darwinism to explain the genetic suitability of different social classes to urban environments
- DThe adoption of Marxist revolutionary programs by European governments to reorganize urban housing