Extra Credit Chapter 19

      The reading of Chapter 19 of the book has been very helpful for providing me a clear understanding of how the effects of Immigration during the late 19^th century confronted the Native Americans with the ethnic and class differences. I was not very much aware about how a flood of immigrants crowded in ghettos was not appreciated by the local Americans. It was interesting for me to learn that the wealthy and class conscious Americans created fashionable enclaves and the middle class shifted to suburbs branding the immigrants as people who were racially inferior.  The native born Americans stress for their commitment to the  Victorian moral ideals, applying new standards of living within the society by developing  lavish departmental stores and aesthetically designed houses has been something that made clear to me the general sense of the separation between two classes existing in the society of the times. The creation of new educational institutions and expansion of number of high schools is something that truly reflected for me the prevalent Victorian morality which emphasized in manners and decorum.

            In addition to that, I noticed a sharp contrast among the newly immigrated people who developed their own political machines for their acquisition of work. The efforts of the corrupt political bosses who handed out jobs to the immigrants were outshined by the reformers blaming the immigrants for their own problems. I noticed that efforts of people like Jacob Riss, Jane Adamms who worked for the improvement of the urban conditions were attacked by Anthony Comstock who tried to attack the immigrant cultures and values in their effort to Americanize them.

            While reading the chapter I also observed a stark difference of class conflict in each and everything. There is an element of controversy in sports which became a big business and a significant part of the consumerism. The Upper and Middle American class fought what they perceived as indecent lower class recreation and mostly held an upper hand in these clashes. I was amazed to learn that despite the fact of having superior hand significant conflicts emerged among their own ranks concerning the moral standards.

            The partial resolution in 1900 as a result of the contest between the large immigrant working class and the elite is something that I deem significant. The erosion of Victorian morality and emergence of new standards that resulted in blending of new rules and regulations like behavior and approach in boxing ring and on the field of baseball has been a vital thing for me to study. It was important for me to discover as well that how sports became a lucrative business where mostly the working class immigrants were raised to the levels of being as heroes. I also discovered that the same kind of compromises also occurred in other fields of theaters and music and also the women struggled to escape the bonds of Victorian styles. In my view the disgraceful reputation associated with the working class culture gave rise to the ideas related to the 20^th century mass culture.