Blog #8 - How has life changed for your interviewee?

This is your chance to conduct an oral history interview and compare it with the time period that we're studying in Europe. Between 1760 and 1850, Britain saw unparalleled economic growth with new technologies, expanded business opportunities, and improved transportation and communication. Men accumulated vast fortunes yet thousands upon thousands went hungry and lived in abysmally awful conditions. The poor were left to struggle for survival and either fight to live or die. Thinkers like Malthus and Ricardo discouraged handouts b/c - as they thought - the handouts would artificially give the poor a helping hand in the survival of the fittest. New religions even emerged to focus workers' anger and energy on the after life and doing good deeds in the present - the message being that you can't change your situation, so make peace with it. Your reward will come later.



America had its own Industrial Revolution, first between 1800 - 1850, and then again, a massive explosion after the Civil War in which the U.S. surpassed all other industrialized nations in the output of manufactured goods (1865-1900). Similar things happened: workers attempted to unionize on a large scale but failed; large numbers of workers flocked to cities and lived in overcrowded tenements; and the U.S. had their own version of Malthus and Ricardo in an aptly named concept called social Darwinism.



In the 20th Century, only the World Wars interrupted the flow of industrial and technological progress. For instance, my grandmother, born in 1911 only a few years after the Wright Brothers had perfected the plane, could now fly around the world at the end of the century. Also at the end of the century, all homes had central plumbing and heating, electricity and phones - luxuries that only the wealthy could afford in 1911. In 2000, cell phones were popular and cheap. You could send an image on a piece of paper from one part of the world to the other with just a phone call instead of using the slower mail. Media had also changed. Instead of just getting the news from the newspaper, you could get it online, on the radio and on the TV.


Your question:
How has 1. technology, 2. jobs and economy, 3. religion, 4. entertainment, 5. politics, 6. news media, 7. communications and 8. travel changed since your interviewee was young (or about your age)?

Your entry should be around 200 words ( 50 words per choice b/c you're required to pick a minimum of 4 of the 8 topics to write about for your blog post) and will be due Tuesday, Dec. 15th.