While the Industrial Revolution strengthened the British Empire and propelled its economy, William Morris was keenly aware of its drawbacks. Division of labor in factory production meant that workers performed mind-numbing, repetitive tasks their whole lives, beginning in childhood, for very low wages. Urbanization meant dreadful living conditions in crowded slums. And aesthetically, products of the industrial revolution were generally shoddily produced, cheap and unimaginative imitations of historical styles.