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Urbanization. AIM: How did the rapid urbanization of the Gilded Age affect the lives of Americans?. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZrxhTk7Ur8. I. Urbanization during the Gilded Age. Urbanization is the growth of an urban area (city) as a result of immigration and migration from rural areas.
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Urbanization AIM: How did the rapid urbanization of the Gilded Age affect the lives of Americans? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZrxhTk7Ur8
I. Urbanization during the Gilded Age • Urbanization is the growth of an urban area (city) as a result of immigration and migration from rural areas. • Typically due to industrialization.
Efficiency – research and recycling, easy to supply – Frederick Taylor Convenience – access to education, social services, health care, etc. Social integration – assimilation of cultures Industry – high-tech factories; stock Positive Impact
Elisha Otis creates elevator brakes, making elevators prevalent Modern typewriter – Scholes Telephone – Alexander Grahm Bell Car and motor improvements New Technology
Term first used in 1880’s – buildings 10-20 stories and over Combined the newest innovations Boasted steel structure, central heating, electric pumps, lighting, telephone Skyscrapers and Buildings
Cultural Benefits • New middle class sparked rise of consumer culture • Printing cheaper, newspaper prices slashed, paper back books, etc.
Department stores – consumer culture spread by mass media • Saloon culture – combined music, comedy, culture, specialty acts
Cultural Benefits • Bicycle riding, camping, public parks • Frederick Law Olmsted – designed many parks in Boston, NYC (Central Park) • Cheap entrance to museums, amusement parks as more time made available • Roller coasters, dancing, music halls all popular forms of entertainment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOCxegQupMU
Development of slums Unemployment Crime Poor living conditions Pollution Poor working conditions Negative Impact
Slums and Tenements • Crowded urban areas with substandard housing and poor living conditions • Housing can be taken away at any time • Scarcity of utilities • Overcrowding • Low rise houses were divided into family apartments • Often too small, lacking ventilation, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7EcaXPJF8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlivokF1IY
"It is generally a brick building from four to six stories high on the street, frequently with a store on the first floor which, when used for the sale of liquor, has a side opening for the benefit of the inmates and to evade the Sunday law; four families occupy each floor, and a set of rooms consists of one or two dark closets, used as bedrooms, with a living room twelve feet by ten. The staircase is too often a dark well in the centre of the house, and no direct through ventilation is possible, each family being separated from the other by partitions. Frequently the rear of the lot is occupied by another building of three stories high with two families on a floor.“ - Jacob Riis
Increase of factories and automobiles Air pollution leads to respiratory issues Diseases spread fast in tenements (scarlet fever, influenza Contaminated water Epidemics unavoidable and inevitable Pollution and Health
Working Conditions • Hazardous and persistent • Fires likely occurences in textile industry: Triangle Shirtwaist Incident of 1911 • Life threatening injuries from machines • Long hours, low pay • No worker benefits (compensation) • Child labor prevalent (lower wages, easily managed)
Sociologist Max Weber coined the term. Explains American’s belief in hard work. Puritan Work Ethic
Theory that the strongest should survive and flourish, and the weak and poor allowed to die – Herbert Spencer Justified exploitative forms of capitalism Horatio Alger Myth: “Rags to Riches” via hard work, labor, good character Social Darwinism
Political Corruption Federal Corruption 1. Whiskey Ring Affair. 2. Credit Mobilier Scandal Local Corruption 1. Political Machines 2. Able to win votes by offering services: giving out jobs, homes, government contracts
Democratic party- William March Tweed Control NY city politics Combatting Political Corruption!!!!! Pendelton Act – establishes Civil Service Tammany Hall
A. Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1879 B. Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888 II. Social Reformers: Opposition to the “Evils” of Industrialism