One of the biggest controversies over the Industrial Revolution is how it affected the working class. The oldest debates were over whether the standards of living rose or fell. Those that believed they fell claimed that the capitalists (26)____ every ounce of surplus they could from the working class. Those that believed the standards of living rose claimed that the environment was consumer-friendly, with more and more goods (27)____ to the working class every year.
Today's historians agree that overall, the standards of living (28)____ . They do not agree, however, on when this improvement (29)____ .
In an effort to solve this controversy, historians have attempted to define (30)____ what "standard of living" means. They all seem to agree that it should mean happiness, but happiness is impossible to measure. Instead, historians (31)____ use "real income" as the measure for the standards of living. Real income is money (32)____ and then adjusted according to the cost of living. However, it does not take into account unemployment, pollution, health, life expectancy, or free time.
After (33)____ debate and analysis of the average income, historians have agreed to disagree on whether there was rapid or slow economic growth during the Industrial Revolution. Instead, they have decided to (34)____ how the Industrial Revolution was affected by other events. They have determined that the Industrial Revolution had an overall positive (35)____ , but it quite possibly was neutralized by negative events such as wars, high taxes, and rapid population growth.