The University of Tuzla

Faculty of philosophy
English language and literature
American cultural studies I

An Analysis of Class Divisions in American Society Portrayed in Relevant

Cultural Production in the period between two world wars

Professor:

Student

dr. sc. Jasmina Husanovi, vanr. prof.

Admir Husi

- Introduction
This essay critically analyzes and assesses the divisions between social classes in
American society through the 1920s and 1930s. There were many social class divisions
during American history, but two world wars and the Great Depression were the main
reason for a great immigration to America. Immigrations were primarily the main reason
why there were many class divisions in America after the First World War and before the
Second World War. This essay further shows how these divisions effected on people and
which the human rights they had depending on their social class or the position in the
society as such. There are many conflicts that were appeared in the 1930s when it comes
to the position of women, politics, Afro-Americans, labourers, ethnicity and immigrants.
- Social classes in America in the 1920s
The time just after the First World War was the time of prosperity and material wealth but
there were class divisions either way. These classes were divided depending on the
problem or a job that a specified group of people or individual possessed. It was divided
depending on whether an individual is labourer or not, whether a specified group or
individual has some civil rights or whether they were immigrants or a part of
consumerism. According to the 19th Amendment brought in 1920, women were able to
vote which meant to have become an important role for the identity of social classes;
which class an individual belongs to. Immigrants saw themselves as competitors in
America because they were put in the lowest social class even though some of them were
wealthy and had a good job. The Ku Klux Klan had a significant impact on immigrants
because it was against the cause of immigrant sentiment and discrimination. In 1924, the
Johnson-Reed Act was introduced to decrease the number of immigrants in America by
not giving them the right to come in. Consumerism was present in the middle class and
the people from this class had more freedom when it comes to technological
achievements and the basic sustaining food. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis were the most

famous writers who talked about the rise of middle class in 1922 when Lewis published
his book Babbitt that talks about some social problems in this class.1
Economy was developed rapidly after the First World War and there were many factories
emerged. Because of that labourers worked for larger companies and their social position
was in growth. Harlem Renaissance was one of the most important movements when it
comes to the position of Afro-Americans in the society as such. This Renaissance tended
to introduce some significant features of Afro-Americans and their position was
improved during the 1920s even though this minority group was forced to live with other
minorities and they were unemployed because of the fear of Native Americans to be
made the cultural diversity. However, the conflicts between these minorities escalated by
joining together in some areas of America that meant to be a new way of lifestyle.2
The rapid development of economy in America brought many immigrants to this country
after the First World War because they found America as a promised land especially for
youths. They were able to spend more money and had more freedom as it was not before
and during the World War. This was the period of fast development in every area as well
as in education and it is called Roaring Twenties by historians. Youth had many
opportunities for High school education or for getting at universities. Although young
Americans had more freedom, the lives of blacks and immigrants were considered to be
hard because their rights were of negligent part of the government issues. On the other
hand, women were able to vote and to get a job that was not possible before the First
World War.3
American society in the 1920s had been improving until the Great Depression that
happened at the end of this period. This is best presented in the book of David J.
Goldberg called Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s which briefly
gives the description of the position of social classes and the events that happened during
this period. This book shows the struggle of the minorities that had different religious
1

http://www.ehow.com/info_8372398_changes-social-class-america-1920s.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468300881.html
3
http://www.manythings.org/voa/history/168.html
2

views from each other and in the next section describes what sort of politics had been
emerged and how the government struggled with strikes that escalated after the period of
prosperity and wealth at the end of the 1920s.4
- American society in the time of the Great Depression and later 1930s
There are some causes that influenced on the bringing of the Great Depression in
America. Those are the crash of Stock market in 1929, failures of the banks, decrease in
purchasing across the board and American economy politics with European countries that
introduced higher taxes.5
When the Great Depression appeared in 1929, there were many social and political
conflicts in America. People who were in upper social classes were forced to be put in the
lower classes because the government increased taxes to save the country not to reach
bankruptcy. There again appeared racial and ethnical inequality as well as the position of
women was threatened because of the governments goals. People came out on the streets
holding transparent such as We want to be citizens, not transients! to fight against
governments decision about increasing taxes which later brought to massive
unemployment. This problem forced the President of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt to
do something about it because there were massive protests throughout the states. The
Great Depression brought a huge problem of unemployment and people were almost
unable to survive financially without any job to make them money. Roosevelt said in his
speech: Our greatest primary task is to put people to work Lacks of jobs and money
will always be a source of conflict because the love of money is the root of all evil. He
meant by this statement that seeking for more money is very common thing in capitalist
countries such as America and nobody can make every individual to be satisfied with
their position in the society. The Great Depression was the main reason for social
inequalities that caused conflict between classes. However, the Great Depression joined
them together because they dealt a similar problem and it was unemployment.6
4

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4402
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm
6
http://maycoth.hubpages.com/hub/Conflict-in-America-During-the-Great-Deppression
5

The crash of Stock market did not effect on a labour class or lower classes as much as on
the upper classes because who was the rich, they would have become richer and who was
poor, they could have lost anything more. However, the problem of upper class was
affected by the crash of Stock market and people from this class were unable to save their
wealth. Because of that, several number of New Deal programs were introduced to
change this situation to better position. Individuals from this class were not satisfied
because these programs did not bring any improvement and they were not supported by
the President.7
The period after the Great Depression brought many riots and protests on the streets
throughout America. There were many conflicts of the working class with ruling class
that behaved violently. In 1932, the Detroit police had to use force to calm down the
rioters who made hunger demonstrations and the outcome was with murders and injuries.
In 1933, the President Roosevelt enabled the workers to join together to make unions but
this was also a bad move of him because there were many riots again and many of the
rioters lost their job at the end. 1934 was the year full of strikes from which were the
biggest in Toledo, San Francisco and Minneapolis that were organized by the people from
working class to struggle with the ruling class. Black people successfully struggled with
the ruling class and had about 20 percent of their labourers employed in the industries.
There were not only divisions between the social classes during these years but in the
politics as well. According to AFL (American Federation of Labor) convention, there
were two political sides; Republican and Conservative in 1935 and later the Labor Party
was founded to fight for working-class peoples intentions. One of the main people who
made society more acceptable both for white and black people was John L. Lewis who
was the President of the United Mine Workers in America. He succeeded to partially
group white and black people to struggle with the problems that occurred and the
Committee for Industrial Organization set the title for their brochure The CIO and the
Negro Worker Together for Victory. In 1937 a national farmer-labor party won at the
elections in Wisconsin and Minnesota which meant to begin a new era for lower classes.
7

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/class.html

The Communist Party supported the working class movement and had a great impact on
the society during the Great Depression. There were three different groups of socialists
during the strikes in 1934. Many external influences did not effect on America as much as
it was just before the beginning of the Second World War in 1939. Such influences were
the politics and regimes of Hitlers fascism and Stalins. There was an important slogan
just before the elections in 1938 Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism which
aim was to approach Americans to this politics and to accept new way of ruling.8
- Conclusion
There were many social class divisions during the history of America but the period
between two world wars was the most influential on society. There were too many
conflicts not only with the eternal struggle of Afro-Americans being accepted but
immigrants as well. Afro-Americans succeeded to fight for their rights which meant a
new era for them but it was just to the beginning of the Second World War and their
dream became impossible to realize. However, this period shows us many examples of
working-class struggles to achieve their goals. The period of the 1920s was the most
successful period for America because those were the ages of wealth and prosperity and
the rise of industrialization all that to the Great Depression which influenced mostly on
the working class and labourers who later made many strikes throughout the country.
Who was the rich became richer but who was the poor became the poorer and it could not
have changed until the Second World War that was the turning point for all social classes
in the United States of America.

- References
1. http://www.ehow.com/info_8372398_changes-social-class-america-1920s.html
8

http://www.isreview.org/issues/25/The_1930s.shtml

2. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468300881.html
3. http://www.manythings.org/voa/history/168.html
4. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4402
5. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm
6. http://maycoth.hubpages.com/hub/Conflict-in-America-During-the-Great-Deppression
7. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/class.html
8. http://www.isreview.org/issues/25/The_1930s.shtml