HIST 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Anti-Racism, Meat Packing Industry, City Beautiful Movement
Document Summary
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the united states experienced a fundamental change in the way workers earned a living and in the way people and institutions interacted. Relationships changed between government and industry, industry and workers, government and its citizens, and even between family members. Many americans left farming and moved to cities to take jobs in factories and offices. While the workers often lived in wretched conditions, increasing numbers of people with discretionary income formed a new urban middle class. Part of the attraction of city life was an alluring consumer culture. For many, the attraction of consumer goods such as fashion, furniture, and houses became the major incentive to "get ahead. " For young adults, another attraction of big cities was that they no longer lived with their parents; thus, courtship patterns changed from chaperoned visits to dating.
