Compare And Contrast The Economic And Social Changes Of The 1920's

The 1920’s was a time of major change for America, both economically and socially. This economic change can be attributed to the mass production of automobiles. The largest car company at this time was the Henry Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford’s industrialization of the automobile changed people’s lives, altered America’s landscape, and created more employment opportunities. Henry Ford played a major role in the economic and social changes that occurred in the 1920’s. In 1903, Henry Ford created the Ford Motor Company. He is known for making an inexpensive car made by skilled workers. He was able to make automobiles less expensive by inventing the moving assembly line. Instead of one worker building a car start to finish, each worker was in charge of building a specific section. With this system, workers only needed to know how to build one part of the car. The manufacturing of one Model T changed from 12

Automobiles allowed people to travel long distances. This made it possible for workers to live outside of the city and commute to work. This caused the rural population to increase leading to the urban sprawl. Owning cars gave families the opportunity to go on vacation to distant places and rural families could travel to the city for shopping and entertainment. The 1920’s brought an increase of convenience for the middle class. Products such as refrigerators and vacuum cleaners, that were earlier only available to the rich, were now affordable. They were mass produced using Henry Ford’s method of the assembly line. These products made life easier and gave people more leisure time, therefore altering the manner in which people lived their lives. The automobile also affected the social dynamics of cities. People could no longer allow their children to play in the streets or using the roads as social and recreational gathering places because of the fast moving vehicles now present in the