Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920

Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (1992 [1978])
By Paul Boyer

Synopsis: This book is "a fresh synthesis of familiar material" that examines America's moral response to the city, from 1820-1920, and the various reform measure taken to deal with it. The book is divided into four parts: 1) The Jacksonian Era, 2) The Mid-Century Decades: Years of Frustration and Innovation, 3) The Gilded Age: Urban Moral Control in a Turbulent Time, 4) The Progressives and the City: Common Concerns, Divergent Strategies. Argues that prior to 1920 (mostly pre-1860), many of the reform efforts really focused on restoring a sort of village life/familiar surveillance in a society which no longer followed that model. Reform efforts also sought "moral uplift" through tracts (Lyman Beecher was especially involved). The switch from a rural to urban society freaked people out and led them to fear a loss of control. Into the Guilded Age, more coercive strategies took hold (such as Teddy Roosevelt's "we have to fight the poor to save them" strategy - wasn't he post-Gilded Age though?) vs. positive environmentalist strategies (such as the City Beautiful Movement, park movement, playground movement, etc). By the 1920s, however, the view of the city had changed, and people now saw it as a den of conformity.

Interesting Specifics:

Attempts at increased surveillance included the publishing of personal details, whose aim was "to introduce a public dimension into even the most intimate private realm; to reassert society's right to oversee every facet of personal behavior" (19). [Interesting, as this is exactly what's going on now with MySpace, etc, but in an intentional, hey look at me and my personal details! way. Would this idea still even work? Oh, I guess it still exists with "To Catch a Predator"]

Many of the religious-based reform movements were designed to reach the masses and provide them with a sense of order. Thus, the Jacksonian era became somewhat obsessed with order and discipline as a counter to the increased chaos; "this early urban moral-reform effort, then, simply underscored the erosion of an organic sense of community in a period of urban growth" (56).

YMCA movement started in England in 1841, and was brought to the U.S. in 1851.

1910 = Mann Act passed - made is a federal offense of transport a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes" (191).

The 1890s saw a massive rise of anti-prostitution and anti-liquor sentiment.

1896 = Raines Law, and the rise of Raines Law hotels.

Park movement, playground movement, etc, were all part of the "positive-environmentalist" movement, which sought to improve living conditions of the poor so as to influence their moral and social values (234).

Interacts With:

Rothman (Discovery of the Asylum, in this increased push for order and hermetic, old-time community as a solution to increased chaos and change of urbanization)
Hmm, I wrote in my notes that this book might also be about the (implicit) homogenizing effects of mass culture, even though it doesn't explicitly state that.