Life in Cities and Consumerism Samra Hrustemovic Ashley Santos Emily Stolting

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire Greenwich Village, NYC Workers held in captivity Owner charged

Farms vs Cities Explosive Economic Growth Rising population Increasing industrial production Expansion of the consumer marketplace Economy total output rose 85% Farms and cities grew together

Rise in population Between 1900-1910 Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota Great Cities 21 cities with populations exceeding 100,00 NY – largest population

Migration to cities Large amounts of people migrated to cities Middle class Benefited greatly Growing incomes Lower class people Close to starving Lived with crowding, inadequate water facilities, etc.

Immigrants Immigration – 40 million people Downtown New York Low pay, harsh working conditions “ethnic neighborhoods”

Improvements New Transportation systems Sanitation Systems made Housing improvements

Muckrakers Journalists who exposed the underside of American life Lewis Hines photography Lincoln Steffen’s The Shame of the Cities Ida Tarbell’s History of the Standard Oil Company

Consumer Freedom Consumer goods Leisure activities Availability of consumer goods

Fordism Production innovations Fordism raised wages Lower prices Assembly lines Fordism raised wages Controversy on if this is a danger $5 day Linked mass production and mass consumption

Assembly line

Mass Consumption American standard of Living

Scientific Management Streamline production Increased profit and wages Loss of freedom for white and blue collar workers Loss of worker tradition, increased production

Settlement houses Houses in poor and working-class neighborhoods in urban areas Served the poor “Hull House”