Hard Times does not shy away from depicting the class conflicts that were intensified in the industrial English cities symbolized by Coketown. There is a large gap between people like the Gradgrinds and Mr. Bounderby and people like Stephen, Rachael, and even Sissy. The Gradgrinds largely ignore the lower classes. To them, they are out of sight and out of mind, not really people perhaps, if they think of them at all. This changes a bit when Sissy comes to live with the family, especially since she shows herself to be a kind, compassionate person who is intent upon caring for others.

People like Mr. Bounderby, however, are highly prejudiced toward the lower classes. He advises Mr. Gradgrind against accepting Sissy. He is constantly blustering about the Hands wanting more than they deserve, but he is not willing to provide what they really need. The workers in his mill, like Stephen, work long hours for little pay and survive on the thinnest of means. Mr. Bounderby has no trouble dismissing them without cause, as he does with Stephen. This is quite ironic since Mr. Bounderby claims to come from the poorest class himself (although he actually does not).

It is little wonder, then, that the working-class people begin to unite and organize to pursue better conditions. However, the narrator suggests that they are going about it in the wrong way. Organizers like Slackbridge are all talk. They get the people riled up and turn them against each other, especially when some, like Stephen, do not want trouble.

Stephen, perhaps, has the deepest insight into the class conflicts. Punishing the workers with a heavy hand will not work, he says. Organizing with anger and causing trouble will not work either. The only thing that will work is for people to treat each other as human beings, and this is what Stephen prays for as he lies dying in the mine shaft, that people will come together and strive together to make things better for everyone. This is the only solution to the class “muddle” that he can see.