Chapter 22 Flashcards
sources of economic growth
After the recession of 1921-1922, the US began a period of almost uninterrupted prosperity and economic expansion.
An immediate cause was the debilitation of the European Industry in the aftermath of WWI. Technology and great industrial advancements it made possible was also a huge boom. The automobile industry became huge and stimulated growth.
General Motors
By 1920, GM was not only the largest automobile manufacturer but also the 5th largest American corporation. GM founder William Durant, expanded the company dramatically but had never replaced the personal management style with which it began. new system by Alfred P. Sloan made ti even more able to expand.
welfare capitalism
Some employers in the 1920s eager to avoid disruptive labor unrest and the growth of independent trade unions, adopted paternalistic techniques that came to be known as “welfare capitalism”
- Henry Ford shortened the workweek, raised wages, and gave paid vacations
- US steel made efforts to improve safety and sanitation
When labor grievances surfaced despite these efforts, workers could voice them in “company unions’ which were emerging. Welfare capitalism brought may important benefits, but did not help them gain control over their fates. Welfare Capitalism affected only a relatively small number of workers in any case. Most employers were interested primarily in keeping labor costs to a minimum.
labor in the 1920s
New Era was a bleak time for labor organization, in part because the Unions themselves were generally conservative and failed to adapt to the realities of the modern economy. It was a hard time for organized labor.
“pink-collar” jobs
Women were concentrated in Pink collar jobs–low paying service occupations with many of the same problems as manufacturing employment. Jobs like secretaries, salesclerks, telephone operators, and other underpaid jobs. AFL didn’t have an interest.
A. Philip Randolph
Founded the brotherhood of sleeping car porters in 1925 which was an exception to the openly racist/sexist policies of labor organizations like the AFL. Vigorous union, led by an African American and representing a virtually all black workforce. Was pretty successful.
Asian Americans in the U.S.
In the wake of the Chinese exclusion Act, Japanese immigrants took the place of the Chinese’ menial jobs in CA, despite hostility. THey worked on railroads, construction sites, and farms.
Mexican Americans in the U.S.
Lots of Mexican immigrants. most lived in CA, Texas, New MExico, and Arizona. MOst lived in cities. SOme worked in factories or shops, others mines, farms. Faced hostility but little effort to exclude since we needed the labor.
open shop/American Plan
After the turmoil of 1919, corporate leaders worked hard to spread the doctrine that Unionism was somehow subversive, that a crucial element of democratic capitalism was the open shop (no required unions). The crusade for the open shop, “The American Plan” received the support of the national Association for manufactures and became a pretext for a harsh campaign of union busting.
farmers in the 1920s
New technology for increased production. Number of tractors quadrupled. Helped to open 35 million acres to cultivate. Invention of hybrid corn chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Overproduction was occurring, so workers began to demand parity, setting a price and ensuring farmers would earn back at least their production cost.
consumerism & advertising in the 1920s
By the 1920s, America was a society where many men and women could afford not merely means of subsistence, but a considerable amount of discretionary goods. People were buying cars, refrigerators, washing machines, and more. Advertising blew up. There was mass circulation.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
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companionate marriage
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Margaret Sanger
The use of contraceptives for birth control was still against the law in almost every state. Even so, the work of Margaret Sanger and other advocates of birth control achieved rowing acceptance in the 20s.
“flapper”
A special fashion that set young people apart from older generations was the flapper look. Influenced by movie actresses as well as their own desires for independence, young women shocked their elders by wearing dresses hemmed at the knee, bobbing their hair, smoking cigarettes, and driving cars. High school and college graduates also took office jobs until they married. Then as married women, they were expected to abandon the flapper look, quit their jobs, and settle down as wives and mothers.
