Period 7 - 1920s

some of it

Scientific Management

AKA Taylorism; a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity.

Henry Ford’s Assembly line

a manufacturing process that involves dividing work into simple, repetitive tasks performed by workers in a sequence, revolutionizing industrial production in the early 20th century in the automotive industry. This led to increased efficiency, reduced costs, and the ability to mass-produce goods, significantly contributing to changes in American manufacturing and consumer culture

Ford’s Model T

Made with Henry Ford’s assembly line, the Model T was affordable to the average American, increasing personal mobility

Modernism

a break from traditional views/values embracing industrialization, technology, and new forms of expression

Fundamentalism

believing in the literal truths of the Bible, opposing modernism and blaming modernists for a decrease in morals

Scopes Trial

landmark Tennessee legal case where teacher John T. Scopes was convicted for teaching evolution, violating the state law. It symbolized the cultural clash between religious fundamentalism (William Jennings Bryan) and modernism/scientific inquiry (Clarence Darrow

Prohibition

the prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933; progressives advocated to eliminate drunkenness, reaching their goals with the passing of the 18th amendment

How could Americans still gain access to alcohol?

Speakeasies, bootleggers smuggling and making illegal alcohol, gangs selling alcohol to cover other businesses.

Quota Laws

1920s legislation (the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924) that established strict, nationality-based limits on immigration. These laws were rooted in nativism, as they favoured Northern/Western Europeans and severely restricted Southern/Eastern Europeans and Asians