American Working Class In The 19th And 20th Century

The American working class was greatly influenced throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries by the perpetual struggle of the sin of idleness. It was a time where leisure was beginning to be discovered and seen as a reward for Americans, as they worked their daily lives. For the American culture, the flow between working and playing provided longterm tension and led to disproportionate levels in the social and cultural norms in the 19th and 20th centuries, yet was the preceding factor to the harmony of the American working class in today's world. Dating back to the mid-19th century, the first real interpretations of the newest term 'vacationing' were given in the form of prescriptions by medical professionals. These sort of vacations were taken by working individuals for health purposes. According to these doctors, a vacation was necessary for people who needed to take a break from cities and industrialization. At this time, it was seen as the healthiest option over immoral city living, and as huge influencers as these trained medical professionals were, they made it acceptable on a social normative level. The idea that recreation was able to restore health while amusement did not, was the rule however, when taking vacation time. Some of the vacations that Americans took for their health included trips to …show more content…
When reality was eroded, these norms were challenged and led to disruptions, one of which being the intolerance of the independence of women. While women were used to being particularly conservative, vacationing opened them up more. Women were revealing themselves more by their mischievous acts of swimming alongside men and they were also being advertised amongst the vacation market. This not only attracted excitement in ways of freedom and rebellion, but repulsed others from the outburst of social normative