The Middle Class & Gospel of Wealth

How was the Gilded Age an era of economic opportunity?

• People had plenty of $ and leisure time, which led to the rise of the middle class

  • causes: educational opportunities (universities), new skilled jobs in factories and new corporate openings in administration and management

Effects

• Skilled workers means more $ and leisure time → led to consumer culture and entertainment

• Middle class made “American Dream”

• Had leisure time and resources to engage in political activism & reforms

The Middle & Industrial Class

• Leisure time and consumer culture - new customer technology like sewing machines and typewriters

  • mail order and catalogues from large department stores

• Philanthropy: voluntary organized efforts indented for socially useful purposes such as reform or donating large amounts of money

Gospel of Wealth (1889)

• Written by Andrew Carnegie

• Carnegie argued that someone who accumulates great wealth has a duty to use his surplus of wealth for “betterment of mankind”

• Important to note: it’s up to individuals to give back to society, not the government

• Hints of Social Darwinism → God put men in the position to be wealthy. Because of this, wealthy must give back to poor

• “A man who dies rich dies disgraced”