Its a simple question, but I get confused due to the conflicting information.
The industrial revolution was infamous for its poor working conditions with long working hours and low wages along with abuses and health hazards etc... Yet people from the countryside migrated to the cities, sometimes leaving towns where their families had lived for centuries in search of work, along with people moving in from other nearby countries like Italy and Ireland. Why? Was the life outside the cities even worse? Did they not know about the awful work conditions? Or do I have the timing wrong?
The question was asked here recently, and there was a discussion by, among others, u/Cedric_Hampton, u/Captain_Jackbeard, u/rememberthatyoudie and I. You'll notice that there isn't a tidy answer: there's no doubt that economic conditions in the country pushed people into the cities, but just how much of that was due to enclosure and appropriation by large landowners is still being debated.