Prosperity Decade The 1920 This lecture is about the 1920s and the economic growth during this time In the 1920s America reached their highest standard of living People are beginning to make more money and working less time They re able to have leisure time and buy things like cars From the turn of the century to 1920s output of goods Americans are making increased by 300 Two of the biggest industries of the time were construction and automobiles I Industrial and Economic Growth Automobiles a new industry Before this time there were automobiles but only wealthy people could afford cars before 1920s pre assembly line Every car was custom made and crafted Then Henry Ford came along Henry Ford Developed new processes and it enabled him to mass produce automobiles Basically he created machines to do the work of putting together cars They were all the same size and quality etc it made the process a lot faster You have to hire more people but you pay them less They also don t have to have the skill of creating cars just know how to run the machine Now more people can afford automobiles b c the price is decreasing He starts initiation new techniques He introduces the conveyer belt It moves the car along to the workers rather than the workers going to the cars It saves the workers energy and saves time The workers do the same thing over and over again For the company side of this it s good more profit The workers view point is that they don t enjoy doing the same thing over and over again it s not fulfilling work but they re getting paid well and they re able to buy things like automobiles He s able to cut the work week down He introduces the 5 day work week instead of 6 Beginning of 1920s is able to produce a car in 14 hours In raw pieces to an assembled car only took 14 hours Over time he studied the process and made it better and later it only took them 90 minutes to create a car Every 10 seconds there was a new car coming off the conveyer belt Henry Ford bought rubber plantations steal meals coal mines so he wouldn t have to pay for it River Rouge Plant Cartoon factory where raw materials came in one end and a manufactured car came from the other end The factory was as big as a city Construction Once people got cars they re going to want a place to drive them and paved pathways to drive Huge growth within cities and outside of cities They move to the country and they are known as suburbs similar to the Garden District here They wanted to get out of the crowded cities In general these were only places that the only very wealthy upper class can afford For example Beverly Hills What all that growth means more jobs for the construction industry It s a big boom and enables the economy to become stronger A businessman s Country businessmen become an idol and example for the country They wanted Henry Ford to run for president Basically holding business up as an American religion This whole idea is based off of the idea of efficiency organization II The Organizational Revolution this is kind of counterpoint to the industrial revolution Switch where people are less concerned to identify which family they re from and identifying to what they do instead Functional Groups professions coming together to make national organizations This also happens with different religions and community organizations These things become national and national conventions are held A shift in what people are seeing Has a affect on how the society is ran Approval of your peers rather than your neighbors This means better businesses They re getting advise But it also means they re getting less concerned with people that are not like them It shifts the way people see the world People are grouping themselves with organization what they do rather than locality who s near them Scientific Management Frederick Taylor The Principles of Scientific Management 1911 basically argues efficiency is more important than anything else Goal of profit becomes more than character morality etc The New Middle Class most people remember 1920s when Henry Ford workers are only working 5 days a week 5 a day There are also people out there that are making really small amounts for more days a week They have more expenses Housing causes go up Also cars become a necessity all of this leads to the new middle class Classes are tricky They don t see themselves as upper class or lower class We don t define class by what you do or how much you make but by what you consume what you own Most people think of themselves as middle class if they can live in a nice place and afford a car The new middle class defines themselves differently Before they saw class as independence financial independence If you work for someone else there isn t much independence The new middle class is one which independence isn t important They consider themselves middle class when you value fitting in and cooperation Different set of values The new middle class and values become larger and the majority The American value changes overtime From independence fitting in III Cultural Ambivalence Henry Ford and Greenfield Village Ford was ambivalent to American values he didn t like the way it was changing even though he s the one that began what made the change His ultimate plan was for his workers to live in places like little villages like in the 19th century he wanted them to experience self sufficiency and not be a robot No one wants to work 10 hours in a factory them going home to harvest their meals LOL His solution is wacky but shows that he was concerned about the changes He has the children being taught by textbooks from the 19th century He felt like the way he was raised was good not realizing they were going to grow up in a different world Charles Lindbergh and The Spirit of St Louis he was a pilot He was the first to fly across the Atlantic nonstop People began crashing At this time there wasn t radar and planes were primitive To go that far you need more gas More gas mean more plane The planes either crash or burn Charles decides to do it by himself Everywhere there isn t motor is fuel tanks He is the only one in there There s the basic dashboard or radio or crew members He couldn t even see straight forward He had to stick his head form the side He has no pilot experience He was an air mailman in WWI He took mail form one city to another People thought he was crazy Planes have to stop so St Louis was the hub He finally go tot Paris He was a global hero Historical