Social and Cultural Trends

1. Social and Cultural Trends 14.3

2. Objectives • Explain how new types of stores and marketing changed American life. • Analyze the ways in which Americans developed a mass culture. • Describe the new forms of popular entertainment in the late 1800s.

3. Key Parts • Americans Become Consumers • Mass Culture • New Forms of Popular Entertainment

4. Introduction • Read section 14.3 • Answer questions 4-5

5. Americans Become Consumers • In 1873 Mark Twain depicted life in America as “gilded” in his novel The Gilded Age. • This meant that American society was rotten at the core but covered in gold paint. • Some would argue that this was America’s true golden age, the answer to this is based on your perspective.

6. Cont. • Industrialization and urbanization changed the lives of American workers. • It allowed for a culture of conspicuous consumerism, which is one that allowed even the very poorest laborers the ability to buy most anything they needed in regards to necessities.

7. Cont.. • Rowland H. Macy opened what he called a department store in New York in 1858, the first of its kind. • This was the largest single store in America in its time. • He used wide spread advertising and grouping of goods into different departments and selling them at fair prices.

8. Cont… • By the 1870s many big cities had department stores: Jordan Marsh in Boston, Marshall Field in Chicago, and Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia. • John Wanamaker was the first to offer a money back guarantee, also used the Newspaper for advertising his store. • He also was the first to ship items to rural areas for free, this led to a boom in the mail-order catalog business.

9. Mass Culture • This was a concept that came from the effects of transportation, communication, and mass production. • All across the country Americans became more and more alike in their consumption patterns. • Rich and poor would wear the same clothing styles and have similar household gadgets, the only difference was how ornate the items were.

10. Cont. • The newspapers helped to further this concept of mass culture. • Between 1870 and 1900 the number of newspapers increased from about 600 to more than 1,600. • Joseph Pulitzer was the most renown for newspaper design, circulation and audience apeal.

11. Cont.. • He started a newspaper called the World, and it was so successful he then started the Evening World. • Pulitzer believed a newspaper was to inform the people and stir up controversy. • His paper was filled with political corruption, comics, sports, and illustrations. They were designed to get the widest possible readership

12. Cont… • William Randolph Hearst was soon Pulitzer’s competitor, he used the same tactics in his paper the Morning Journal. • As history has shown during “Gilded or Golden Ages” the Arts and Literature begin to flourish. • Novels became more popular such as Stephen Crane’s: A Girl of the Streets, and The Red Badge of Courage.

13. Cont…. • Other novelist focused on moral issues such as, Horatio Alger who wrote about characters who succeeded by hard work. • Henry James and Edith Wharton questioned a society based upon rules of conduct. • Playwrights such as John Augustin Daly mirrored Twain’s disapproval of the Gilded Age.

14. Cont….. • During this Gilded Age education expanded rapidly. • By 1910 there were over 5,000 high schools across the nation. • Also by 1900 the literacy rate climbed to an impressive 90%. • Schools taught courses in science, woodworking, drafting, civics, and business classes.

15. Cont…… • John Dewey was a reformer who desired to enhance student learning by introducing new teaching methods. • Colleges began to rise dramatically during this time however many state universities began to accept women into their classes.

16. New Forms of Popular Entertainment • In 1884 Lamarcus Thompson opened the world’s first roller coaster. It cost ten cents per ride and Thompson averaged more than $600 a day. The ride was located at Coney Island a popular amusement park outside of New York City. • Circus’s began to travel from city to city to provide inexpensive entertainment, using shows, acrobats and exotic animals to amuse guests.

17. Cont. • Cities with their dense populations and rough work conditions allowed a great avenue for many different forms of entertainment to get their minds off of work. • Vaudeville shows were a medley of musical drama, songs and comedy. • Movie Theaters were called nickelodeons because it cost five cents to attend the movie.

18. Cont.. • Spectator sports became extremely popular. • Baseball developed it National League and turned it into a business. Major cities began building stadiums. • Other sports erupted such as football, boxing, horse racing, and bicycle racing. • And in 1891 at Springfield Massachusetts YMCA James Naismith invented basketball as we know it today.