This change brought with it severe social and economic dislocations which adversely affected the lives and livelihoods of the urban masses.
To be sure, the difficulties experienced by the average city dweller, collectively referred t as the urban problem," were also present to some extent in premodern society.
However, the anarchic concentration of industrial capital in the city coupled with the disorderly accumulation of labor power combined in this early stage of development to plunge the urban population ever deeper into poverty.