Question

Which of the following factors contributed to the rise of the middle class

Answer 1

During the Industrial Revolution the building of many factories and industries with an ever growing need for skilled labor contributed towards the rise of the middle class.

Explanation:

The factories operated with the help of machines which needed skilled labor. Earlier when employment was scarce middle class people remained employed only seasonally but with the growth of factories and rising commercial demands the middle class people were employed in factories and industries all year long at different designations.

Answer 2

Answer: European governments (at that time still significantly engaged with colonialism and nationalism) became aware of the importance of working class and became aware of no need of any "proletarian revolution", idea that was spreading among workers after the publication of Communist Manifesto. That is why European government in the second part of the 19th century were attempting to get workers support and sympathy: - paid holidays, health-care system, paid retirement etc. ...social policy was becoming increasingly part of governments´s strategies (Bismarck in Germany for example). So situation of the middle class was becoming even better.

Explanation: on the other hand European societies were desintegrated and split from within ...there were big parts of societies that felt themselves excluded, overlooked, discriminated.