The Gilded Age was to describe America in the late nineteenth century. The outside of the US seemed glamorous and splendid alongside industrial development and massive economic growth. However, the dark sides were hidden beneath it. In my perspective, I believe we are living in the 2nd Gilded age. Here are four reasons why. Initially, wealth concentration and inequality were severe problems and are still now. Back then in 1870-1900, it was a period of wealth concentrated by many “Captains of Industry”. Social Darwinism were used to justify the extremes of wealth, meaning that only the economically fittest could survive and thrive. Similarly, the era we are currently living in is where massive amount of money is concentrated in very few people’s …show more content…
The Industrial Revolution witnessed the evolution of large urban centers, such as Boston and New York City. It changed society from agrarian to mechanical, which further moved jobs to larger cities. As every coin has two sides, there are negative sides to this. Primarily, it caused severe pollution. The environment condition was bad with smokes surrounding them. The release of harmful gases into the air from factories pollutes the world 's air, doing harm to the environment, further leading to global warming. Then, though it did boost many job opportunities, the living condition of the workers during the industrialization were poor. Company towns owned by business were rented out to employees. The owners forced them to live in isolated communities near workshops and forced them to buy goods with high interests. The cities were poorly constructed and crowded with people and residents. The work was also dangerous with not much supervising by the government.Workers, on the other hand, had little or even no bargaining power to leave the unsafe conditions. Nowadays, When Americans only pay attention when extreme work strike, levels of abuse are the norm hidden in the factories around the globe. Although the condition seems much improved, consumers don’t know the true fact- “Today, American citizens simply cannot know the working conditions of the factories that make the products they buy. We cannot know how the chemicals, tools, and technologies in these workplaces affect workers.”(In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm)-many workers have to inhale harmful gases, face dangerous situation everyday. More, reports indicate that women make up the vast majority of the workforce, but men make up the supervisors, which is the same as what happened in the Gilded Age. “The darker side of the growing population in cities was racial tension and
In “Making it in America,” Adam Davidson explains what is occurring in factories in America today. Currently, American factories are producing more goods per factory than in the past, while factory jobs are disappearing. He also humanizes what is happening in today’s factories by providing a specific example of a company, Standard Motors with a factory in Greenville, South Carolina and interviewing workers and the Chief Executive Officer there. Davidson provides the reader with the context of their personal lives and the opportunities they have. One worker with whom he speaks is hurt by these trends, one that is helped by them.
Storyboard INDUSTRIALIZATION America faced many challenges during the industrializing time period. Though, these challenges helped improve most conditions. In 1878, inventor Thomas Edison, went to see a set of experimental arc lights. These lights were too hot and bright though for everyday use.
The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.
Imagine working sixteen hours a day in an unsanitary, dangerous, place for a big business gaining two dollars. This is what laboring-class Americans had to go through during the Gilded age. Politically, the first largest American labor union was formed during the Gilded age and many other organizations formed as well as violent strikes. Socially, different ethnics joined together to share their thoughts and realize the evils of big business and of the federal government. Mentally, most we 're losing their personal life while some were financially stable and glad.
During the Gilded Age, income and wealth inequality in the United States reached unprecedented levels. While characterized by rapid industrialization and economic growth, the wealth gap was enormous, with a small fraction of the population elite but many
The Gilded Age lasted from 1870 to World War 1, “1900s.” The Gilded Age was a period of fast economic development, but also much social struggle. Mark Twain in the late nineteenth century founded the “Gilded” Age, which means covered with gold on the outside, but not really golden on the inside, for example, tin. This period of time was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In other words, the outside looked beautiful, but the inside looked old and trashy.
The Gilded age was a period in the late 1800s (1865-1900) that showed tremendous increase of wealth caused by the industrial age. The lifestyle of the rich during this period hid the many problems of the time that eventually brought about the progressive era movement. This was a movement for reform between 1900-1920s. Progressives typically held that the irresponsible actions of the rich were corrupting both public and private life. Forces such as immigration, the Populist Party and industrialization that led to the progressive era also impacted the American government both in its activeness and its democracy.
The society was divided in 2 groups: old and new money. People had got rich quick and they were trying to show how rich they are every possible time. “As year followed year of prosperity, the new diffusion of wealth brought marked results… There was an epidemic of outlines of knowledge and books of etiquette for those who had got rich quick and wanted to get cultured quick and become socially at ease” (Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday, 1931). There was a leap from 75 to 283 in the number of Americans who paid taxes on incomes of more than a million dollars a year.
Wealth, poverty, technology, decadence, the Gilded Age was a time of change and uprooting of past systems, schools of thought, and standards. It was a time of both hope and doubt for the majority of the population and brought many to be empty handed or exceedingly wealthy. The dynamic between rich and poor was shifting to a gap of wealth never before seen in the young country. The gilded age’s built up wealth disparity faded away over time. Yet today it seems that a resurgence of these features is rearing its ugly head again.
Effects of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was an important event in history. It brought about many positives during its time. For instance, kids were well fed, educated, and clothed. There were plenty of negatives, as well. One very sad example was the machine injuries that happened to both children and adults.
The Impact of the Early Industrial Revolution Changes in society, politics, and economy were found due to the Industrial Revolution. Due to industrialization, towns and cities grew so fast with towns and cities increasing their population such as a twentyfold increase in Manchester. The Industrial Revolution led to an increase in deforestation so that land would be cleared to make new factories. Industrialization offered new opportunities for work, however, few were successful and the jobs were boring and repetitive along with the long work days. Industrialization made society change to distinguish people as either the rich or the poor.
Survival of the fittest was applied to society, so the people with more money had more
Unequal Distribution of wealth was one of the biggest causes of the great
Something that was good about the industrial revolution was that there was more workers and people could get payed more. Things that were bad was that little kids could. That’s bad because kid get hurt for example, for kids who worked on farms would ride on horse rakes and easily fall off and get crushed. Kids would get overworked after working 12 hours a day.
The wealth inequality is basically how many assets are distributed like the income that we make each day. We later noticed that the industrial Revolution helped