Summary Of David Potter's View Of Mass Production

America had a huge industrial revolution in the late 1800”s. Many changes happened to our great nation, which factored into this. The evidence clearly shows that advancements in new technology, a large wave of immigrants into our country and new views of our government, helped to promote America’s huge industrial growth from the period of 1860-1900.

The newly independent United States was the “Pioneer in developing mass-production techniques” (p. 413), which revolutionized industry throughout the modern world. The assembly line, crafted by Henry Ford, as well as advanced mechanical devices exemplified by the steel industry lead to mass production of goods that was previously unfathomable.

In the 19th century the market revolution, was the byproduct of those striving to acquire the American dream. Advancements in technology prompted better industrial machinery, and factories were no longer

Nearly each advancement we made contributed to the continuous rising of our economy. The extreme increase among jobs contributed to America’s wealth and money, there was a significant drop in homelessness, and families were allowed to live comfortably. “The image in document three shows that factories will begin showing up in small towns and villages” (Document 3). Now that there are more facilities to work, there are more jobs available for the common man. Previously there was only farming, but companies began moving into villages, meaning there are more jobs. “The image in document four tells people that there are more positions to fill. With the brand new assembly line, companies need five people to complete the task, as opposed to one” (Document 4). The automobile conceived a whole new job route with the assembly line. People now only needed to know how to piece together one thing and that opened up five or more times more jobs as there were in the past. “Railroad travel was fast. Going to San Francisco from New York City took only six days” (Document 5). To move this fast a train would need a team to operate it. The new engines required many workers; this showed that there would be work opportunities on the rail road too.

The market revolution in the United States brought a sudden change in the manual labor system originating in south and digressed to the north and later spread to the entire world. The integral part of the economic growth in the United States in the nineteenth century was a good thing that brought change in the market. In respect to the change, America took its first major step in creating the world’s most stable and strongest economy, which gave room for growth among the citizens.

Due to the large number of unskilled workers, manufacturing gave its workers boring, labor intensive jobs that focused on one aspect of a much larger system (Document C). Wells compared manufacturing to a military organization, which included workers who performed one task repeatedly, producing a part of the end

Farmers, for example, expressed discontent at the falling prices for agricultural goods caused by new mass-production technology. Initially, they too capitalized on the new technologies and new markets of America's growing economy. But soon they faced increased competition, saturated markets, and falling prices for their produce. Small business owners also resented monopolists who used ruthless tactics to put competitors out of business. In George Rice’s article “How I Was Ruined by Rockefeller”, he says that he is “but one of many victims of Rockefeller's colossal combination” (Document H). Americans like Rice believed that the government must protect small businesses against unfair business practices, like building monopolies. Aside from unfair business practices, there was also unrest from factory workers about unjust working conditions. They argued that mass production techniques were dehumanizing and that they should be treated like humans, not property (Document G). Workers also argued against the greater amounts of specialization of labor caused by mass-production techniques (Document C). Specialization decreases workers pride in their craft and leaves workers largely unknowledgeable and unskilled in their craft. Once management and owners

This onslaught of capitalism directly revolutionized modern industrialism as well as the industrial city. Machines morphed the predominately agricultural nation to a herd of factory and corporate workers. Swarms of people, both native and immigrant, flocked to major cities. “The present century has been marked by a prodigious increase in wealth-producing power. The utilization of steam and electricity, the introduction of improved processes and labor saving machinery, the greater subdivision and grander scale of production, the wonderful facilitation of exchanges, have multiplied enormously the effectiveness of labor.”(George, p.20) The major problem with this newfound industrialism was the way in which the workforce was treated. Capitalism was supposed to provide a way out, a way ascend the financial and social staircase, if you worked hard enough. This however was not the case, if you were a loyal, hardworking employee you simply got to keep your job, and if you were in any way injured or incompetent you were fired.

Mass production became a new phenomenon that led to a drastic change in America's economy. This lead to specialization of labor causing a decrease in skill among the workers who would consistently produce one aspect of a product until “there is no more of that kind of work to do” and are then helpless (Doc C). This approach to manufacturing caused unstable jobs due to the fact that they were easily replaceable being that their jobs required minimal skill or knowledge. As mass production boomed, it led to a decrease

The Industrial Revolution had many marvelous and opposing effects. The opposing effects were mainly for the factory workers. The marvelous effects were mainly for the factory governors. The reason as to why most opposing outcomes were mainly for the factory workers was because the outcomes had to do a lot with the governor's treating the workers poorly. The marvelous outcomes were mainly for the factory governors because everything the governors did was just to make themselves look good.

As Ewen begins by describing the two contrasting perspectives of social reality. “It described factory industrialism as producing the accoutrements of a democracy, one which invites every man to enhance his own comfort and status. Equating democracy with consumption” (Ewen 187). Ewen recognizes that “Mass production, according to this outlook was investing individuals with tools of identity, marks of their personhood” (Ewen 187). One side of the perception of social reality is production.

The American work ethic, he claims, has made a large free labor force, which in turn has made capitalism a very powerful force in our society. The post World War II surge in patriotism and

There is no question that the Industrial Revolution had an enormous impact on American society between 1870 and 1940, but the question is what kind of an impact did it have during this period. The overall effect of the Industrial Revolution turned out to be a positive push towards modernization in America. As Stephen Gardiner, a British architect and writer during the 20th century, said, “The Industrial Revolution was another one of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization.” While Gardiner hit the nail on the head with his quote, the part of the story that most people tend to forget is just how quickly we Americans, made that extraordinary jump forward. There were Americans, who, at one point in their life were

d) What has led to the decline of mass production in the U.S., and how can socio-technical systems improve productivity and quality?

I agree with David Potter's view on mass productions being democratizing force on society. However, I disagree with the means used to create the ability to have mass production. Although mass production allowed for technological advancements I do not beleive that it was "[A] paractical demonstartion of American beliefs in democracy and equality" (Faragher, 294). The changes of production led to inequality in wages, occupations, and work hours. There are two major examples of this occurance. The first example of mass productions effect on society is child labor. Apprentices were used merely as helpers and their parents recieved payment for the child's labor (Faragher, 295). The second example of inequallity due to mass production was working