The Gilded Age and Working‐Class Industrial Communities

Abstract

In the United States, industrial management techniques shifted from strong paternalistic controls to absentee forms of ownership in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tracing the change of industrial management techniques in a mill community that survived through the Gilded Age shows the impact of industrialization on consumerism and health in working‐class households. Initial examination of the archaeological record shows that the domestic material world of workers' households became similar to each other while consumer goods increased significantly. We suggest that with the transition of management techniques from minimal paternalism to absenteeism, a trend developed toward homogenization of some everyday material culture. However, living in a marginal geography promoted a countertrend among workers and their families, and alternatives to market‐oriented consumption allowed for “insurgent” forms of citizenship. Understanding the historical consequences of industry for workers and their families is relevant for understanding the situation of marginalized labor today.

Albion W. Small’s Neglected Progressive Views: Reducing Inequalities for a Reasonable Capitalism

“…In turn, this helps in understanding a number of normative claims not fully in line with some empirical facts on inequalities, income taxes, and capital concentration, such as a decline in some types of inequalities (Piketty and Saez 2014). For instance, the Roaring Twenties were characterized by a general increase both in wages and skills benefiting the working class (Shackel and Palus 2006). Furthermore, the rise of new types of industrial organization and management improved both management–worker relations as well as the global productive environment of workers (Scase 1992).…”

“…It should be added that this coincided with a peacetime tax program where the idea of tax cuts was strongly identified with Andrew Mellon and the Republican Party (Alstott 2006). 2 Additionally, it was not until the Roaring Twenties that workers’ conditions really improved (Shackel and Palus 2006). Thus it is important to indicate that until the 1940s, Small’s arguments in favor of taxation, as we discuss below, were respected.…”

Global Goods

“…Since many trade routes ran from Europe around South Africa (although the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 did change this pattern), we might expect that trade goods sent along these routes would be similar. The South African ceramic signature however, although not identical, had far clearer parallels with British, Australian, and North American contexts, where plates and bowls used to serve individual placements at tables were common during the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries (for some examples, see Brooks 1997;Brooks and Connah 2007;Crowell 2011;Leone 1999;Shackel and Palus 2006;Wall 1999).…”

Working With the Difficult Past: Examples From the University of Maryland

“…Outside of the academy, Progressive Era reformers also became involved lobbying for municipal implementation of electricity, sewage, and water systems (Shackel and Palus ). Beginning in the late 19th century, citizens created organizations to help solve some of society's needs with organizations such as the Red Cross (1881), Knights of Columbus (1882), Lions Club (1917), the League of Women Voters (1920), and the National Urban League (1920), to name just a few (Gates :25).…”