Chapter 23

Mass Society in an “Age of Progress,”1871 - 1894

The Industrial Regions of Europe by 1914

©20

03 W

adsw

orth

, a d

ivis

ion

of T

hom

son

Lear

ning

, Inc

. Th

omso

n Le

arni

ng™

is a

trad

emar

k us

ed h

erei

n un

der l

icen

se.

The Growth of Industrial Prosperity

New Products Substitution of steel for ironGrowth of chemical industryElectricity

• Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and Joseph Swan – light bulb• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) – telephone, 1876• Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) – radio waves across the

Atlantic, 1901• Electric railway in Berlin, 1879

Internal combustion engine• Automobile and airplane

Henry Ford (1863-1947) – mass production Zeppelin airship, 1900 Wright brothers, 1903

New markets• National income growth

Real wages increase Spend more on consumer goods

• Competition for foreign markets• Cartels• Protective tariffs

New Patterns in an Industrial Economy• Depression, 1873-1895• Economic boom after 1895• La belle époque

German Industrial Leadership• Germany replaces Britain as the industrial leader of

Europe• Union of science and technology

European Economic Zones• Europe into two economic zones

Advance industrial core of Great Britain, Belgium France, the Netherlands, Germany, western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and northern Italy

Little industrial development in southern Italy, most of Austria-Hungary, Spain, Portugal, the Balkan kingdoms, and Russia

• Agricultural growth Tariff barriers

A World Economy• Economic development in conjunction with growth

in marine and railroad transportation

Women and Work: New Job Opportunities• “Right to work”• Domesticity• Sweatshops

White-Collar Jobs• Increased white-collar jobs creates shortage of male workers

opening up opportunities for women• Secretaries and teachers• Freedom from “dirty work” of the lower-class world

Prostitution• Working-class girls flocked to the cities• Employment unstable and wages low• Licensed and regulated• Contagious Diseases Acts in Britain, 1870s and 1880s

Organizing the Working ClassSocialist Parties

• German Social Democratic Party (SPD) Marxist rhetoric, improve the condition of the working class

• German Social Democrats Socialist party

• Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) French socialism

• Social Democratic Labor Party Marxist, organized in Russia in 1898

• Second InternationalRevisionism and Nationalism

• Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932), Evolutionary Socialism, 1899 Demise of capitalism not near Bourgeoisie expanding Proletariat improving Discarded class struggle Evolution not revolution

Role of Trade Unions• Develop slowly• German trade unions attached to political parties

Anarchist Alternative• Support in less industrialized and less democratic countries• People inherently good but corrupted by state and society• Michael Bakunin, use of assassination and violence

Emergence of a Mass SocietyPopulation Growth and Emigration

Medical discoveries and environmental conditionsImproved public sanitationImproved dietIncreased emigration

• Between 1846 and 1932, 60 million Europeans left Europe, half to the United States, the other half to Canada and Latin America

Transformation of the Urban Environment• Growth of cities

Improving Living Conditions• Public Health Act of 1875 in Britain• Clean water into the city• Expulsion of sewage

Housing Needs• Reformer-philanthropists• Port Sunlight by Lord Leverhulme, 1887• Garden city movement in Britain, Ebenezer Howard• British Housing Act, 1890

Redesigning the cities• Redesign of Vienna and Paris• Defensive walls pulled down• Great boulevards• New buildings• Displaced population

Population Growth in Europe, 1820-1900

©20

03 W

adsw

orth

, a d

ivis

ion

of T

hom

son

Lear

ning

, Inc

. Th

omso

n Le

arni

ng™

is a

trad

emar

k us

ed h

erei

n un

der l

icen

se.

The Social Structure of the Mass SocietyThe Elite

• 5% of the population that controlled 30 to 40 percent of wealth• Alliance of wealthy business elite and traditional aristocracy

The Middle Classes• Upper middle class, middle middle-class, lower middle-class• Share common lifestyle and values• Professionals• White-collar workers

The Lower classes• 80 percent of the European population• Agriculture• Skilled, semiskilled, unskilled workers 

The “Woman Question”: The Role of Women

• Marriage• Birth control

The Middle-class Family• Domesticity• Leisure time• Schooling of sons• Boy Scouts

Working-class Family• Daughters work until married• 1890 to 1914 higher paying jobs made it possible to live on the

husband’s wages Limit size of the family

Education and Leisure in an Age of Mass Society

Mass education in state-run systems• Personal and social development• Needs of industrialization• Need for an educated electorate• Differences in education of boys and girls• Teachers• Increased literacy• Newspapers

Mass Leisure• Amusement parks• Music and dance halls• Tourism

• Sports Recreation Professional sports

• Amusement parks Sundays

The National StateWestern Europe: The Growth of Political Democracy

Reform in Britain• William Gladstone

Suffrage Reform Ireland

Limited land reform Home Rule Act, 1914

The Third Republic in France• Paris Commune, 1871• Government troops break the commune• Republican constitution, 1875• General Georges Boulanger (1837-1891), 1889

Spain and Italy• Spanish constitution, 1875• Generation of 1898• Sectional differences in Italy

Central and Eastern Europe: Persistence of the Old Order

Germany• Prussian military tradition• Bismarck’s conservatism

Kulturkampf Social Democratic Party Social welfare programs

Austria-Hungary• Problem of minorities• Prime Minister Count Edward von Taaffee, 1879-93• Imperial emergency decrees• Parliamentary system in Hungary

Russia• Alexander III, 1881-1894

Reform had been a mistake

• Nicholas II, 1894-1917 Weak