The second aspect of the social class was the rich people but they were known as the “new money.” These were the people who did not have ancestors that were wealthy and they had to be on their own. Because of the stock market boom in the beginning of the 1920s, many middle class businessmen quickly became rich. The “new money” class of people tried really hard to behave like the upper class but socially they were not accepted because of the social class distinctions before they became wealthy and the lack of experience or finesse to use wealth in the same manner as “old money” families did. The whole American Dream for the people part of this class was to be part of the upper class and become a part of that because people believed that after being accepted as part of them, life would get better and they would find happiness and that is what they were trying to achieve. Gatsby, a character from the novel The Great Gatsby is one of the best representations of a businessman who was part of the new money class and how desperately he wanted to be part of the upper class and how hard he worked for it.
Right next to the newly rich was the middle class. Because of the mass production and industrializing cities, there were many job opportunities in the cities, which made it affordable for people from the west to stay in big cities and that created the middle and urban working class. The middle class were The everyday life for a middle class man was to work in the city, have time for the family, and then have their own leisure time. The employment of women helped the household expenses for the men but usually most female workers were single. During the stock market boom, many middle class businessmen gained a lot of wealth and became part of the newly rich class. The prohibition made it illegal to manufacture, sell, and transport alcoholic drinks, which made many middle class citizens increase the usage of alcoholic beverages and viewed the prohibition as something like a joke. The 1920s saw the flowering of the culture of the African Americans, which lead to the introduction of the jazz music that emerged in New Orleans which later spread to other countries. The middle class men would go out to jazz bars and would drink and listen to jazz music all night long. During the 1920s, the middle class citizens included in being married, having children, enacting proper gender roles, and “participate in the worlds of business and politics.”
Under the middle class was the lower class. They mostly consisted of the industrial workers. The roaring twenties for the lower class was different because the working class communities were already in crisis before the stock market crash. Many unemployed workers from the west, college dropouts, or veterans from the World War I that had no work became part of that working class. The working conditions of the workers were terrible and many of them went on strikes. One of the strikes’ was the Great Railroad Strike of 1922. The railroad labor board’s cut their wages down to seven cents, which was the immediate cause of the strike. It died down eventually because many shop men made deals with the railroads on a local level. Another major strike that the works did was the Coal Strike of the 1919 in which four hundred thousand workers walked out due to a wage agreement issue. This shows that while the many of the upper class citizens enjoyed the wealth and the luxury, there were another group of people paying the price for wealthy.
Overall the social structure was unfair during the 1920’s because of the huge gap between the upper class and the lower class. The culture in the 1920’s was the loosening of the social structure and the rebellious behaviors and the challenging the traditions of proper behavior.
Bibliography "The 1920s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2001. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . "Digital History." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014. . "LitCharts | The Great Gatsby: Themes." LitCharts | The Great Gatsby: Themes. LitCharts, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . McComb, Mary C. "Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and ..." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . Shmoop Editorial Team. "Economy in The 1920s." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. .
Bibliography: "The 1920s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2001. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . "Digital History." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014. . "LitCharts | The Great Gatsby: Themes." LitCharts | The Great Gatsby: Themes. LitCharts, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . McComb, Mary C. "Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and ..." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. . Shmoop Editorial Team. "Economy in The 1920s." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. .
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