APUSH - Topic 6.10 Development of the Middle Class

Explain the causes of increased economic opportunity and its effects on society.

Expanding Middle Class

• growth of white-collar workers (do not involve manual labor)

• more middle-class employees → increased demand for professionals (doctors, lawyers), public employees, storekeepers

• more than ¼ workers were white collar (1910)

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie

• all wealthy have the responsibility to do philanthropy

  • improve society by helping others

• defended laissez faire capitalism → “hard for the individual”, “best for the race”

Working Women

• 1/5 of adult women were working

  • most young and single, married women rarely worked

• people still believed that women shouldn’t work if the family could afford it

• some women broke into professions such as doctor, lawyer, professor

• many women became clerical workers, nurses, teachers

  • as previously male dominated jobs became feminized, the job usually lost status and received lower wages

Growth of suburbs

reasons:

• cheaper and more land

• inexpensive transportation made commute easy

• new construction methods lowered building prices

• wanted to live in all-white communities

• like having detached houses with grass and privacy

Design of Suburbs

• Frederick Law Olmsted

  • designed central park

  • houses had ornamental lawns

Cities

• increasing crime, disease, water pollution

  • reformers wanted municipal water purification, sewerage systems, waste disposal, etc.

• “City Beautiful” movement

  • remake cities with trees, public parks, and attractions

Public Schools

• taught moral values along with academics

• new compulsory education laws → dramatic increase in students

• kindergarten became more popular

• more public high schools → taught vocational education along with academics

Higher Education

• Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890

  • land grants to states to establish colleges

    • relatively affordable, became research centers

• wealthy philanthropists funded building of new colleges

• female education advocates founded femal colleges

  • women made up 1/3 students (1900)

• African American education advocates founded colelges

Changes in Higher education

• more affordable education boosted enrollment

• electives introduced

  • less required courses, more self-chose courses

• Johns Hopkins University

  • first school specializing advanced graduate studies

• US produced scholars who could compete intellectually with Europeans

Social Sciences

• many used new social sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science) to address social issues

• affected doctors, educators, social workers, lawyers

  • some argued that law should evolve with changing times and needs

  • Clarence Darrow argued that a person’s criminal behavior is affected by their upbringing

Reasons for More Leisure Time

• gradual reduction in working hours

• better transportation

• improved billboards and advertising

• less Puritan and Victorian values that disliked “wasting” time on play

Forms of Leisure Activities

• Mass circulation Newspapers + Magazines

  • not just news stories but also scandals and sensationalism

• Amusements

  • theaters with comedies and dramas

  • vaudeville → traveling circuses, wild west show

• Music

  • more music performances

  • development of jazz, ragtime, blues (created by Black people)

• Spectator Sports

  • Baseball, football

• Amateur Sports’

  • sports seen as a healthy excercise

  • women could only do certain sports

  • rich people did rich people sports → growth of private athletic clubs