It wasn't until 50 years after the end of the first industrial revolution that living standards increased, and continued to increase. There was a huge number of laws and public functions that were created during this period to deal with the problem of industrialization, from the creation of the first public police force in London, to the banning of child labour (down from the the 18 hours children used to work in 1820).
It's sobering that a peasant alive in 1400 had a higher standard of living than all his descendants until 1900 in Britain.
It is politics and struggle that determines which version of industrialization we end up with, not industrialization itself.
One of my favorite alternative history ideas is the combustion engine and assembly becoming viable in 1790 instead of 1890.
Imagine a South that replaces all the slaves with tractors and automated cotton pickers, and a North which finds slavery works better in Fordist conditions than free labor.
There are many critical aspects that were very often better for the average 1400s peasant than a 1900s industrial worker or even many people as today:
- sense of community: super tight-knit for many 1400s farmers
- ...of belonging to a place
- ...of purpose
- job safety!
- food safety