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The working class was the crucial members working in factories and warehouses. These conditions were brutal and dangerous, but without them, our world as we know it would cease to exist. The working class consisted of children, which were breaking every child labor law we have now, and a lot of immigrants. A lot of this labor was left unpaid for, and a lot of people lost their lives working in such conditions.

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The working class focused primarily in growing cities such as Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, etc. This is because the Industrial Revolution was mainly in factories and urban industrial areas. The working class became a big reform point because of the conditions they faced. Since there was maltreatment happening, a lot of workers fought back against the mistreatment.

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The new consumer culture was a shift towards mass consumption of goods and services. This includes lots of household appliances such as fridges, and other consumerist items like radios and clothing. Since the standard of living was better, many families living in the suburbs had more disposable spending. This made it easier to become consumerists with products that they could now buy due to increased wages.

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At the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century (predominately starting in the 1920's), cities where there had been exponential growth in the economy now had new consumer culture. The why is because there had been lots of cultural shifts, People now had leisure time and from the increase in wages, they now had more to spend on these non necessities. Also since the population was increasing, there were more workers, which means lower prices.

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The Panic of 1873 obviously heavily affected America, but also the countries and continents around it that relied on its imports and exports. The Panic of 1873 affected a wide range of people and institutions, including investors, businesses, workers, and farmers. It particularly impacted industrialists, speculators, and railroad companies heavily invested in expansion.

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Scientific management aimed to improve efficiency and productivity in industrial workplaces through analysis and the matching of workflows and processes. Frederick Winslow Taylor, an American mechanical engineer and management consultant, is credited with developing scientific management principles.

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It started in factories and large-scale production facilities. It later spread to other industrialized countries, influencing management practices globally. Taylor and others believed that applying scientific principles to management could lead to higher productivity, better quality products, and improved working conditions for employees.

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In 1909, Taylor published " The Principles of Scientific Management." [1] In this, he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand. A factory manager at that time had very little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product. There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment, so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible.

Taylor believed that all workers were motivated by money, so he promoted the idea of "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work." In other words, if a worker didn't achieve enough in a day, he didn't deserve to be paid as much as another worker who was highly productive.

With a background in mechanical engineering, Taylor was very interested in efficiency. While advancing his career at a U.S. steel manufacturer, he designed workplace experiments to determine optimal performance levels. In one, he experimented with shovel design until he had a design that would allow workers to shovel for several hours straight. With bricklayers, he experimented with the various motions required and developed an efficient way to lay bricks. And he applied the scientific method to study the optimal way to do any type of workplace task. As such, he found that by calculating the time needed for the various elements of a task, he could develop the "best" way to complete that task.

These "time and motion" studies also led Taylor to conclude that certain people could work more efficiently than others. These were the people whom managers should seek to hire where possible. Therefore, selecting the right people for the job was another important part of workplace efficiency. Taking what he learned from these workplace experiments, Taylor developed four principles of scientific management. These principles are also known simply as "Taylorism".

Four Principles of Scientific Management

Taylor's four principles are as follows:

1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.

2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.

3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.

4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

Critiques of Taylorism

Taylor's Scientific Management Theory promotes the idea that there is "one right way" to do something. As such, it is at odds with current approaches such as MBO (Management By Objectives), Continuous Improvement initiatives, BPR (Business Process Reengineering), and other tools like them. These promote individual responsibility, and seek to push decision making through all levels of the organization.

The idea here is that workers are given as much autonomy as practically possible, so that they can use the most appropriate approaches for the situation at hand. (Reflect here on your own experience - are you happier and more motivated when you're following tightly controlled procedures, or when you're working using your own judgment?) What's more, front line workers need to show this sort of flexibility in a rapidly-changing environment. Rigid, rules-driven organizations really struggle to adapt in these situations.

Teamwork is another area where pure Taylorism is in opposition to current practice. Essentially, Taylorism breaks tasks down into tiny steps, and focuses on how each person can do his or her specific series of steps best. Modern methodologies prefer to examine work systems more holistically in order to evaluate efficiency and maximize productivity. The extreme specialization that Taylorism promotes is contrary to modern ideals of how to provide a motivating and satisfying workplace.

Where Taylorism separates manual from mental work, modern productivity enhancement practices seek to incorporate worker's ideas, experience and knowledge into best practice. Scientific management in its pure form focuses too much on the mechanics, and fails to value the people side of work, whereby motivation and workplace satisfaction are key elements in an efficient and productive organization.

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Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management - Understanding Taylorism and Early Management Theory

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In 1909, Taylor published " The Principles of Scientific Management." [1] In this, he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand.

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The Knights of Labor was founded in 1869 by Uriah Stephens. The Knights of Labor was a labor union that sought to improve the working conditions and rights of its members, who included a diverse range of workers such as industrial laborers, miners, craftsmen, and even some farmers. They advocated for an eight-hour workday, workplace safety regulations, and the abolition of child labor.

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The AFL was founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers, who served as its president for much of its early history. Gompers was a prominent labor leader and advocate for workers' rights. Unlike the Knights of Labor, which aimed for broad inclusivity, the AFL focused primarily on skilled workers and their specific workplace concerns.

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It was based in the United States but had other unions and members throughout the country, particularly in industrial centers. The AFL rose in response to the challenges faced by skilled workers in rapidly industrializing America. Its primary goals included having higher wages, shorter workdays, better working conditions, and recognition of unions.