Changes in Social Relations in the United States Between 1920 and 1947, Essay Example

Today, America is seen all over the world as the country that represents the ideal society where equality reigns in terms of economic disparity between its members. Equally, America today is seen all over the world as a society where individuals get what they deserve in terms of compensation of their efforts. Indeed, American society is seen as the country where there is equal opportunity for all and everyone get what they deserve in life as long as they work hard for it. Although the above may be true, the American society did not just find itself where it is as the champion for the economic right of everyone. Its history shows numerous struggles by individuals who chose to sacrifice their rights or lives for there to be economic wellbeing of the remaining members of the society. The history of economic inequality and labor injustice in the early American society was one of the many historical features of the American society that show bitter struggles and true heroism of the members especially the leaders in trade unions in America. The early American society had its equal share of economic inequality between its members and also several injustices in the labor system that indicated unequal pay for work rendered. Poor working condition and general long working hours characterize the early working environment for all those worked in the American economy. The transformation of the society from the early stages to the status that enjoys international recognition and celebration today is as a result of the efforts, struggles and sacrifices of the leaders of trade unions in the American society. Their main agenda was pushing for better working conditions for workers as well as better pay which played a great role in reducing economic disparity between the members of the society.

As America was moving to its status as the worlds superpower, there are numerous changes and reforms in the way that its labor markets. Equally, there were general reforms in the entire social structure of the society. The era between the last part of the First World War (WW1) (1920) and the end World War II and few years afterward to around 1947 indicate history of American society rich in struggle for reforms. The results of such struggles indicate changes in social relations in the society. Greater changes that were witnessed are the improvement of characteristics of the labor market and also reduction of disparities between the rich and poor members of the society.

The labor market in the early America throughout the periods of 1920s indicates years of progress and other changes. In this period, there was marked period of prosperity in the economy of the United States. Industries such as the automobile, rubber and textile had a lot of benefits to its workers. By then, working in such industries was more lucrative than ever before despite the working conditions being laborious and oppressive. By the early 1920s, there were major efforts by the leading industries to prevent labor unions from forming. They discouraged their employee’s from participating or being members of labor unions. This is contrary to what had already been witnessed in the early years or the onset of the World War I where there was extensive growth of labor unions under the American Federation of Labor (AFL). By this time many employers used every means possible to discourage their employees from participating in labor unions. They spend a lot of money employing spies, firing suspected employers, hiring strikebreakers. One major weapon that the employers used was that they accused the members of labor unions to be communist. Also other companies formed membership or organizations to represent their demands. (LaFeber, Polenberg and Woloch 40).

In the period before the 1920s, labor unions were mot in the capacity of having collective bargaining power. The labor unions did not have the legal rights to represent the all the workers unions. With this right employers had the legal right to block any union formation in their companies. In the beginning of the early 1920s some companies had started loosening their stand and had begun paying some of their staff pensions, health plans and also workers were able to share some of the profits of the company.

Due to legislative support for the “open shop” shop concept, where workers unions were not allowed to champion for the right of every employee, companies by early 1919 were harshly breaking strikes organized by workers unions. Such efforts by most leading companies greatly reduced membership to workers unions in America.

There are also events in the history of the America that led to changes in the way that labor laws in the country function. One of the major historical events that had a great impact to the American labor history is the great depression. In this period, between the years of 1929 and 1933, there was a marked reduction of industrial goods. The result is that many companies were unable to meet their production cost. Due to this many companies laid off their employees leading to a period of wide spread unemployment in this period. A good example of the effects of the great depression on companies is the case of the automobile industry which reduced their workers by more than half during this period. Also payment of wages in this period significantly reduced.

After this period there were major changes that were witnessed in the lives of the American worker. When the newly elected American president of America, President Roosevelt showed signs of caring for the American worker through his appointment of a woman to be the secretary of labor in his cabinet, it marked the beginning of major reforms in the employment sector in the American society. In the year 1933, the congress passed a National Industrial Recovery Act which was aimed at increasing the wages of all those who worked in the industries. Also other major changes that the act aimed at was reducing the number of hours that employees worked in industries. It also wanted to eliminate the use of child labor in American industries. One major change that was witnessed after the passing of this Act was the abolition of forced or mandatory requirement of employees to join company unions. After this Act, employees had the freedom of joining the labor unions that they saw to adequately represent their needs through collective bargaining. After the Act, membership to labor unions was in all time high.

Under President Roosevelt’s “new deal”, the American society was promised a change of the status quo in its social relation. The effects of the Great Depression, as already explained, were threatening to tear the American society apart. Indeed with the leadership of Roosevelt, Most American major industries were being revived. The steel and the automobile industries which suffered greatly during the times of great depression were now enjoying prosperity. With the second term of the President Roosevelt, the American economy was even ready for the Second World War which erupted in the year 1939. With this there was increased recruitment in the American industries especially in the automobile sectors to ensure that there was adequate production of automobiles to meet the war time demands.

Under the National Recovery Administration (NRA) of 1933, there was increased effort to reduce completion between industries in effort to increase job creation. This was a major ail to increase the buying power of the citizens and a national strategy of improving economic performance of the country. Though made with great resistance from the major industries due to complains of many regulations, the NRA succeeded in creating employment for many American citizens. Besides this achievement of the New Deal, the very major achievement of the New Deal to President Roosevelt was the creation of social welfare plans under the Social Security Act of 1935. Although such programs had been in existence, they were not accepted because of them being un-American. After this employers were now responsible for the upkeep of the elderly and the weak members of the society.

After the Second World War, there was increased change in the way the social relations in the American society. For instance there was rise of state led capitalism in the country after the post world war II economic crisis. After this there was increasing debate on the legality of companies being forced to provide social security to its employees. By now the church was also involved with the debate on the social security issue. The Catholic Church was against such plains claiming that social security was an avenue of increasing laziness. They believed that every individual should work for their own social security.

As a conclusion, the period between the end of World War 1 and the end World War II had a lot of impact on labor and social relations in the society. Some of the most labor beneficial labor laws in the country today have their history of origin in this period of time.

Work Cited

LaFeber, Walter, Polenberg, Richard and Woloch Nancy. The American Century: A History of the United States Since the 1890s. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1997