The Industrial Revolution was one of the most formative eras in human history. From roughly 1760 through 1840, Europe rapidly developed the world's first industrial economy based on large-scale production from new machinery. The Industrial Revolution shaped the future, creating capitalism as we know it, launching a new era and also creating a new class system that would divide society as never before. These changes led to some fierce attitudes of competition between the rich and the poor - the haves and have-nots. The Industrial Revolution replaced traditional economies of production and local markets with large factories and massive markets of exchange. It also replaced the traditional social classes of Europe, particularly in England where the Industrial Revolution was centered. At the top of society was the aptly-named upper class. They were wealthy, educated, and owned the factories or buildings in which people worked. They did not work with their hands, but they were also not necessarily nobility. For the first time in centuries of European history, the wealthiest members of society did not hold royal titles. They made their wealth from the new industries of the time. The upper class had the wealth and time for leisure. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the lower class. These were the workers, who had little money and didn't own property. Life was very unstable for the working class, who could lose everything if they lost their jobs. A small middle class of people who were not wealthy began to grow. They included merchants and mid-level bureaucrats, skilled laborers, doctors and lawyers. Daily life was dominated by the struggle between the very rich and the very poor. The Industrial Revolution replaced traditional social classes of Europe. With no government intervention, upper class factory-owners looked to increase profits in any way possible, including the exploitation of their workers. The lower class laborers were literally seen as pieces of the machine. Failure to perform was met with dismissal.The lower class had it rough, and workers had no one to advocate for them, since the government was staying out of the economy. We simply cannot talk about class conflict in the Industrial Revolution without mentioning a man by the name of Karl Marx. Marx was a 19th-century scholar who claimed that the capitalist economy, created by the Industrial Revolution, had created a global class struggle. According to him, class struggle first emerged within the factories between the exploitative owners and abused laborers. Marx believed capitalism spread this relationship across society, cemented the different qualities of lives between the classes, and divided people into groups of rich and poor. The "bourgeoisie" owned the means of production (the factories, etc.), while the "proletariat" owned their labor and should sell it for a wage. These two classes had different interests and became locked in a constant battle of self-preservation. The lower class fought to use their labor to earn enough of a wage to live and improve their quality of life, while the upper class fought to maintain their wealth and position by exploiting the laborers. Marx's ideas also founded the political/economic philosophy of socialism, based on the premise that the community should regulate the means of production and exchange. He is amongst the most influential and controversial scholars of the modern era, but his theories did illustrate something that many other intellectuals observed. Class conflict was very much a part of European society.