Cheap Amusements
...o what we know today. Many things we thrive on now can be attributed to this time, and mostly to the young women. Things such as dance clubs, movie theaters, and amusement parks, all emerged from this time. Culturally in the late 1800’s early 1900’s young women were not supposed to be out running the streets or dancing in clubs, they were supposed to be at home helping their mother’s. It was the man’s place, after a day of work to go out and have some fun; yet, as industrialization began young women wanted the same opportunities. They too were working long days and wanted a bit of enjoyment after work. Slowly through this book Kathy Peiss wrote we see the evolution of a culture. In the beginning men going to the saloon, playing cards, and attending social clubs were pretty much the only form of leisure, but chapter after chapter she leads us through a change in times. Girls began to attend dances in saloon’s or even forming their own working social clubs, so that they too could have a social life. Gradually we see the industrial world beginning to target there commercial leisure activities specifically towards the female crowd. Through this we see a change occur, in every aspect of culture. It starts to become acceptable for girls to go out after a day of work, girls begin to live on there own so they have less rules enforced by parents, interactions between the sexes becomes moderately more accepted, and as time elapses steadily we see the barriers for women and leisure come down. Through the industrialization and urbanization of America we see the beginning of the break down of the “American family”. During this time frame New York’s population skyrocketed from under one million to almost five million. As this happens we see a rural area grow into an urban area, and many problems begin to present themselves. When urbanization takes place real estate and the cost of living increases, but as that happens you will see unemployment incr...