Chapter 2: Working, from "Office Work and Service Jobs" to end 67 - 85
Machines revolutionized work outside of factories, as well. In the case of office work, the typewriter and telephone made the modern office possible, and offered new opportunities for women in the job market. In the home, a revolution was around the corner, but not quite there as yet. New mechanical devices (like the carpet sweeper) were making housework easier, but the electrification of housework was yet to come. This had a far different effect on opportunities for women, as appliances made it easier for persons to do their own work. In the 1890s, however, it was still the ideal for even middle class families to have "help," and domestic service offered employment for many women, both immigrant and native-born.
For Wednesday, February 13
Read, in Chambers,
Chapter 3, The Corporate Revolution pp. 54 - 79
We've seen some of this from the point of view of those working as we've read Schlereth. Here, we'll look at the big picture, and how the modern corporation, born during this period, concentrated economic power in the hands of the new industrialist class. We'll look at the way companies on a new scale "rationalized" entire industries, Steel and Oil, to name just two. We'll also think a little about the emerging field of "scientific" management, and how the new science of business changed the relationship of employee to employer.
For Friday, February 15
Read, in Fink,
7.1 John W. Holway, a Pinkerton Guard, Views the
Battle of Homestead, 1992 189 - 193
7.2 Eugene V. Debs Denounces the Role of the Corporation
and the Courts in the Pullman Strike, 1895 193 - 194
Download these and bring them to class and record your reactions to them in your journal
Changes on this scale could not occur without serious disruptions, among them economic cycles of boom and bust and ongoing conflicts between management and labor, which found itself at considerable disadvantage in this new industrial reality. We'll look at two instances of labor conflicts, the
Homestead Strike and the Pullman Strike, each of which turned remarkably violent, each of which saw government intervening on the side of the corporation, and each of which raised serious questions about the survival of equalitarian principles in this new industrial age.
A portion of the Pennsylvania Milita Encampment, with the Homestead Mill in the background..
NOTE: The strikes at Homestead, Pennsylvania and Pullman, Illinois, were made particularly vivid by the rapidly improving photographic techniques which made a real "photo-journalism" possible. As you consider what you read, think about how pictures of militia encampments in the middle of towns would make your particular character react. You'll see some of these at linked websites above.
