answerable not to themselves but to a factory owner

[keannu]

Source : Korean Education Broadcasting System, 14-1

Today, Luddite is a disparaging term used to refer to a person who is opposed to or cautiously criticalof technology. But it’s important to remember that the original Luddites were not, in fact, opposed to technologyper se.It was not the machines themselves that the Luddites feared and reacted against. Rather, they understood that technology is meant to serve humans, not the other way around. Luddites were not protesting the technology itself; they were objecting to the new economic realitiesbrought about by the machines.In former times, craftsmen had been able to work at their own pace and set their own prices fortheir goods. But with the dawn of industrialization and mass production, craftsmen fell on hard times and wereincreasingly forced to work for the hated factories.Suddenly they were answerable not to themselves but to a factory owner; they had to give up autonomy, or starve. They saw what the machines meant to their livelihood, to their lives, to their families, and to their communities. And they didn’t like what they saw.

What does the underlined mean?
Did they have to supply their products to factory owners, forced to supply in a short time, which made them have a hard time?

 

[GoesStation]

What do you find when you look up "answerable" in the dictionary?

 

[keannu]

What do you find when you look up "answerable" in the dictionary?

It's "to be able to account for something".
Did artisans have to supply parts for finished products made by machines, which made them have a hard time catching up with machines' working pace?

 

[SoothingDave]

The concept is this: A craftsman, let's say a carpenter, would make, say, chairs. He would work on all the parts. Cut them from wood. Finish each part. Assemble them carefully. Apply paint or stain. Then he had one chair. Maybe he could make one or two chairs a day.

The factory made chairs with machines and put him out of business. They could make lots of chairs in one day.

How? By specialization, interchangeable parts, and automation.


Now he still needed to eat, so he got a job at the factory. He did have skills working with wood, after all.


But instead of making a chair, he might run a machine that made legs all day. Or one that cut out seats.


The guy who owned the factory had all the power. Our craftsman was now a piece in a larger machine. No longer making whole items that were all his.


Before you get too sad for the craftsman, realize that there are now a lot more chairs. They aren't a luxury item and more people can afford them.