6.10 Development of the Middle Class

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the causes of increased economic opportunity and its effects on society

INTRODUCTION

• American middle class was unaffected by wealth gap between wealth and poor

  • Industrialization created better paying jobs

    - cities needed more professionals and specialist

    - education also created more opportunities

  • Middle class has more benefits

    - leisure time—→ development of popular culture

EXPANDING MIDDLE CLASS

• Middle class originally consisted of doctors, lawyers, merchants, & artisans

  • Growth of large indsutries & corportations

    - middle management (coordinated between executives & factories)

    - created jobs for white-collar workers (did not perform manual labor)

    - technology (created need for scienctist and engineers)

    - sales and marketing (need for salespersons, accountant,clerical ppl)

    - increase in middle-class—→demand for middle-class services

    - middle class job increased to more than 1/4th of nonagircultural employees

THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH

• Some business leaders joined civic/charitable organizations to address urbanization

  • Andrew Carniegie wrote “Gospel of Wealth”

    - argued that wealthy had duty to use their wealth to improve society

    - carnegie distruvited more than $350 million(libraries, schools, public)

    - defended unregulated capitalism (hard for inviduduals, best for race)

    - critics attacked philosophy as paternalistic

WORKING WOMEN

• 1/5 women worked for wages (young and single mostly)

  • Upper and middle class women took care of homes and children

    - higher access to education—→ female doctors, lawyers, professors

    - overtook former male occupations (secretaries, bookkeepers, typist)

    - nursing and teaching became feminized (lower status and wages)

    - factory jobs were an extension fo home life (textile, garment, food)

IMPACT OF INCOME ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT

• Cities underwent significant changes in internal structure and design

  • Higher-income (near business districts), lower (outlaying areas)

    - wealthy and middle class migrated to ¨healthier¨ suburbs

GROWTH OF SUBURBS

• Suburbs were created for several reasons

  • Low-cost, abundant land (reduced price of homes)

  • Inexpensive transportation (commuting to work was easier)

  • New construction methods (rudced price of homes)

    - included wooden, baloon-frame houses

  • Desire to live in all-white communities (racial predjudice)

  • Individuals enjoyed grass, privacy, and indviduality

• Fredrick Law Olmsted designed suburban communities

  • Created curved roads and open spaces

    - suburbs grew around every major city

    - family homes with a lawn (American ideal of comfortable living)

    - starts of worlds first suburban nation

PRIVATE CITY VERSUS PUBLIC CITY

• City residents tried to carry on life in large cities

  • Private enterprises shaped American cities

    - provided streetcars and utilities for profit

  • Crime, diseases, & pollution—→need for reform

    - water purfication, sewage systems, lighting, and police centers were all needed to regulate urban development

    - ¨City Beautiful¨ movement (plans for trees, public parks, cultural attractions)

    - private and public good in urban growth continued to be an issue

CHANGES IN EDUCATION

• Growth of middle class, industry, and knowledge—→ changes in educatiion

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

• Schools emphasized 3 Rs (reading, writing, arithmetric)

  • Taught traditional moral values

  • Compulsory education laws

    - required children to attend school—→increased enrollment

    - literacy rates rose to 90%

  • Kindergarten reflected growing interest in early educatin

  • Tax-supported High Schools

    - followed college prepratory cirrculum—→ more comprehensive

    - provided vocational and citizenship education to urban society

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Growing demand for white-collar workers—→ increase in colleges

  • Funding for colleges came in different ways:

    • Federal Morill Acts of 1862 and 1890

      - provided land grants to states for colleges

      - focused on agriculture, mining, engineering, science, indsutry

      - became research centers for new products and techniques

      - more affordable than middle class

    • Wealthy Philanthropist

      - donated money to new and existing colleges

      - John D. Rockerfeller donated to University of Chicago

    • Advocates of female education

      - founded new colleges for women

    • Advocates for African American education

      - founded more than 50 private and public colleges

  • Affordable college boosted enrollment nationwide

  • Change in cirrculum changed greatly

    - Electives were introduced (courses picked by students)

    - John Hopkinds University specialized in advanced graduate studies

    - US produced scholars who could compete with intellectual Europeans

    - Colleges began adding social activies (frats, sports)

SOCIAL SCIENCES

• Scientifc method and theory of evolution revolutionized society

  • Field of social sciences emerged

    - psychology, sociology, athropology, & political science

    - focused on using data to address social issues

  • Richard T. Ely

    - studied economic institutions to solve economic issues

    - attacked laissez-faire as domestic and outdated

  • Evolutionary theory

    - influenced study of actual human behavior instead of ideas

    - Lester F. Ward, Woodrow Wilson, Fredrick Jackson Turner

  • W. E. B. Du Bois

    - leading Black intellectual of the era

    - used statistical methods to study crime

    - advocated for racial equality in education (“talented tenth”)

THE PROFESSIONS

• Scientific theory influenced doctors, educators, social workers, & lawyers

  • Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

    - argued law should evolve with time (not restricted by judcial past)

  • Clarence Darrow

    - argued criminal behavior was result of person’s environment

    - challenged belief that people were born criminals or chose to be

  • Changes in professions and education—→ legislation reform

GROWTH OF POPULAR CULTURE

• Leisure time became big business

  • Higher incomes, and other factors premoted growth of leisure activities

    - reduction in working hours

    - improved transportation

    - marketing and advertising

    - decline of restrictive values “wasting” time on play

POPULAR PRESS

• Mass-circulation newspapers began to exceed in circulation

  • Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World

    - filled daily paper with stories of crime, disasters and feature stories

    - included poltical and economic corruption

  • William Randolph Hearst

    - published scandals and sensationalism

• Mass-circulation magazines became common ( due to advertising and printing)

  • Ladies’ Home Journal

    - Supported idea of women working outside of home

    - similar magazines sold for 10 cents a copy

AMUSEMENT

• Different forms of amusement began to grow

  • Theatres

    - presented comdies and dramas

  • Circuses

    - used rail network to move acts and animals from town to town

    - Barnum and Bailey (“The Greatest Show on Earth”)

    - Wild West Show (brought “Buffalo Bill” and other personalities)

  • Parks and recreation

    - streetcars and railraod companies premoted weekend recreation

    - urban families enjoted picnics and outdoor activities

MUSIC

• Demand for musical performances appealed to variety

  • Large cities had orchestras, operas houses, or both

  • Smaller towns had bandstands (sets plays for singers like John Sousa)

• African Americans in New Orleans

  • Jelly Roll Morton & Buddy Bolden

    - expanded Jazz (combined African rythms with European instruments)

  • Scott Joplin

    - composer and performer (sold millions of his sheet music)

  • Jazz, ragtime, the blues (popular in south)

    - expressed Black experiences

    - gained popularity as New Orleans performers headed north

SPECTATOR SPORTS

• Baseball

  • reflected industrial age

    - teams were organized into leagues similar to trust

    - Jim Crow laws prevented black players from joining big leauges

• Football

  • originally was developed as college activity

    - professional football teams and leagues were oganized in 1920

    - took years for middle-class respectability

• Basketball

  • Invented at Sringsfield college

    - high schools and colleges across nation had teams

AMATEUR SPORTS

• Value of sports as exercise gained acceptance from middle and upper class

  • Women were considered unfit for most sports

    - engaged in croquet and bycycling

  • Prosperous members of athletic clubs enjoyed golf and tennis

    - very rich pursued polo and yachting

    - private clubs discriminated against others (Jews, Catholics, Blacks)

CONTINUITY

• Urban development and immigration created problems and opportunities

  • Expanding middle, intellectuals, leaders, artist

    - premoted wide spectrum of reforms (political, economic, social, cultural)