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The Progressive Era, 1900-1916

Chapter 18

Unit 6

Society at the Turn of the 20th Century

• Industry was consumer driven

– Promise of abundance takes the form of

department stores

– Time-saving and leisure products like washing

machines, sewing machines, and record players

• Henry Ford’s mass production of the Model T

is a perfect example

– Sold for $700 in 1910 and $316 in 1916

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Urbanization and the working class

• Tenements were the standard

home for working class

(immigrants and laborers)

• Overcrowded : single family

(10-12 people) sharing a 13

square foot space.

• No indoor plumbing and poor

ventilation led to the spread

of diseases

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Working Conditions

• Fordism: Pay workers enough to buy the

product they make

– Workers paid $5 a day, twice the standard

• Triangle Shirtwaist Fire killed 146 workers in

1911

Muckrakers• Journalists exposed the negative impact of

urban and industrial life, as well as political

and economic corruption

• Photographers Lewis Hine and Jacob Riis

– Writers Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair

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Progressivism

• Reformers pushed for large scale

changes and govt. regulations to

improve working and living

conditions

• Socialists wanted the govt. to take

control of industry

– Eugene Debs and the International

Workers of the World (IWW)

organized strikes

• Women were a significant force

for progressive reform

— Jane Addams opened Hull House

to help Chicago’s immigrants

—Mary “Mother” Jones organized

and led labor strikes

—Margaret Sanger advocated for

family planning and birth control