Social developments

• Social developments

  Mass immigration

  Between 1866 and 1915 approximately 15 mil people immigrated into the USA mainly from southern to eastern Europe. Was a dramatic change in that earlier European immigration had been mainly focused on the more developed areas of the north and west (or Anglo-Saxon Protestants who reflected the American profile of themselves as a nation). Peak year for immigration was 1907, w/ 1,285,000 newcomers - of which 11 times more came from Italy and Russia than in 1882. Many Americans worried about this so-called 'new immigration'.
• Social developments


  Mass immigration (consequences)

  • fears that new arrivals did not assimilate into US culture as readily as their northern and western European counterparts, and brought w/ them alien ideas such as communism and anarchism.
  • fears they would undercut wages by working for less that US employees
  • Tended to remain in cities and lived in ghettos w/ their fellows where they maintained own cultural traditions and language
• Social developments

  Mass immigration (consequences 2)

  • Accused of having low quality skills and illiteracy - in 1900, 13% of foreign- born Americans were illiterate.
  • Many were Catholics which critics saw as anti-American - as though their first loyalty would be to Pope rather than American flag.
• Social developments


  Mass immigration (consequences 3)

  New immigration blamed for rises in: crime, revolutionary terrorism, and anti-US ideas such as trade unionism. Many believed immigrants were inferior to US ideal of WASPs, and there presence, let alone interracial marriage, would have a negative impact (these marriages/relationships described as miscegenation at the time). There was a common belief in eugenics which taught of racial hierarchies w/ WASPs at the top and plentiful literature bemoaning the threat new immigrants posed to the white race.
• Social developments


  Eugenics and Social Darwinism

  Theories of racial inequalities were widely accepted at this time. Eugenics taught there was a hierarchy of racial types. Social Darwinism was concerned w/ role of white races in helping other groups while acknowledging they could never be their equals. The great fear was that miscegenation could see the destruction of the white race.
• Social developments


  Urbanisation

  Between 1860 and 1900 the numbers of Americans living in towns of more than 2500 grew from 6 mil to 30 mil, or 40% of population. By 1900 there were 38 cities w/ more than 100,000 pop and several cities, notably NY, Boston and Philadelphia, w/ numbers exceeding 1 mil. Various reasons for this urbanisation:

  • growth of new immigration
  • the beginnings of Great Migration of AA
  • movement of people from rural to urban areas and subsequent growth of urban areas into formerly rural ones.
• Social developments

  Urbanisation (consequences)

  • Urban areas became centre of manu - by 1900, 90% of all goods were manufactured in urban areas
  • An urban culture developed, w/ more centres of entertainment, sports and leisure. By 1920s tensions between more traditional rural areas and what were seen as urban centres of vice and unamerican values were to become sig.
• Social developments


  Urbanisation (consequences 2)

  • Cities saw technical developments such as improved transport networks, street lighting, electricity, water, gas and sewage systems. The city centre landscape was altered by large buildings such as skyscrapers.
  • A new urban middle class was developing through need for administrators, mangers, salespeople and so on - 756,000 in 1970 to 5.6 mil by 1910. Often these had emerged from relatively low-income backgrounds so were very optimistic about the future - and preparing to invest in consumer goods, thus fuelling economic growth.