1. Social and Cultural Trends American History

2. Goals  Students will be able to:  Determine how new industry, technology, and business changed the economy  Analyze changes as the United States became an industrial society  Relate works in the arts to the periods in which they were created  Analyze the cultural effects of transportation, trade, and communication  Terms to know:  Gilded Age, conspicuous consumerism, mass culture, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Horatio Alger, vaudeville

3. Consumerism  The last decades of the nineteenth century is referred to as the Gilded Age  This time period is characterized by shopping, sports, and reading popular magazines and newspapers  During the Gilded Age more people began to earn a salary in places other than a self owned farm  This pushed the U.S. into becoming a lifestyle of conspicuous consumerism  This is a system where people bought the goods they desired in a market  This consumerist lifestyle lead to many changes in how goods were sold  Advertising for goods became common place with companies offering money back guarantees, sending out catalogues, trademarking distinctive logos, and branding name goods

4. Higher Standards of Living  With the rise of the consumer society, many Americans started to measure success based upon the possessions they possessed  In this era cost of living decreased as more goods became mass produced and as technology improved  The use of premade clothing and prepackaged food gave housewives a break from those mundane tasks  This however did push women into spending more time on cleaning and cooking

5. Mass Culture  As goods became more standardized throughout the country, Americans became more and more like each other  People wore the same clothes, bought the same toys, and household goods  This culture became known as mass culture  Between 1870 and 1900, the number of newspapers almost tripled  Joseph Pulitzer was a major pioneer in the newspaper industry as he pushed for newspapers to be a medium that informed people and stir upped controversy  Pulitzers' newspapers highlighted political corruption, comics, sports, and illustration

6. Literature and Education  The literature of the Gilded age explored the harsh realities of the world  Mark Twain wrote books that explored the world of reconstruction, racism, and a changing world  Others, like Horatio Alger, wrote about characters who succeeded through hard work  During this timer period, the education systems in the North grew rapidly and in the South grew very slowly  In most places grade-school became compulsory and the number of high schools exploded  Schools taught science, woodworking, draft, industry skills, civics and business, and English

7. Popular Entertainment  This era saw a rise in entertainment for the masses  People began to attend theme parks and theme shows  One of the most popular of the time period was the wild west show of Buffalo Bill  Attendance at sport events also began to rise as baseball became more populara  A major form of entertainment during the time period was something known as vaudeville  These were variety shows that showcased musical drama, songs, and off-color comedy