Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s History. We’ve been going through Unit 7 of the AP U.S. History curriculum and in this video and the next it’s time to talk about the 1920s, baby. In this video we’re going to focus on innovations in technology and in the next we’ll look at how American culture was changing during this decade. So if you’re ready to get them brain cows milked assembly line style, then let’s get to it. So first, let’s focus our energies with the task we’re aiming to achieve in this video, and it’s this: Explain the causes and effects of the innovations in communication and technology in the United States over time. SO I reckon there’s no better place to start than with our boy Henry Ford. Now Ford made automobiles, the most recognizable of which was the mass produced Model T. Now cars were a big deal in and of themselves, but Ford’s contribution to manufacturing technology was arguably more important, and it’s here where I introduce you to the assembly line. So in 1913 Ford opened his manufacturing plant and the way it worked was it had a large conveyor belt that slowly transported the partially built car from worker to worker. Each worker would perform the same task on each part of the car. That worker’s job was to put that bolt in that hole all day err day. Now Ford wasn’t the first guy to build automobiles, but this assembly line manufacturing was so efficient that it drove the price of the finished car so low that those who built cars from start to finish couldn’t compete. In this way, unskilled assembly line workers gradually replaced skilled workers in many sectors of manufacturing. Now you might remember the principles of Frederick Taylor’s scientific management that we talked about in the last unit. Taylor basically went into factories with a stopwatch and timed every little task that workers performed and then made recommendations for how those workers could shave a second off here and another second there. And this process was fundamental in creating the efficiency of assembly line work. Now once an affordable automobile was introduced to Americans, Ford found that there was a nearly insatiable demand for them. And this transition to automobiles was really an American phenomenon. By the end of this decade, Americans owned something like 80% of all automobiles world wide. [That’s a lot of Fords, Tony]. And with the widespread purchasing of cars came a profound impact on American society. As people’s individual mobility increased, a metric buttload of them began settling outside urban centers in suburbs, but we’ll get to that more in the next unit. But even cities themselves, like Los Angeles and Houston, were remade into the image of the automobile with roads becoming dominant urban features. SO I’ve been focusing on cars and how they shaped society, but these same manufacturing techniques refocused the American economy on mass produced consumer goods. Not only were cars being offered to the public but so were toasters and radios and various health and beauty products and consumer appliances. And all these manufacturers found willing customers across American since in general, many Americans’ standard of living rose during this decade. And with this proliferation of consumer goods the advertising industry got its big boy pants on too. And thanks to Sigmund Freud’s studies on human psychology, advertisers learned how to promote their products through ads that attempted to tap into the subconscious of their customers. No longer did they encourage you to buy this toaster because it was better than the other toasters. Now they messed with Americans’ brains and said, “If you don’t have this toaster, can you even call yourself a real woman?” Okay, another very significant consequence of this flurry of new technology was the advent and spread of popular culture throughout America. This was accomplished largely through new communications technologies like radio and cinema. The radio was almost non-existence at the beginning of the 1920s, but by the end of the decade, many American homes had them. Corporations like Westinghouse seized the potential to reach mass audiences and by 1923, there were just under 600 official radio broadcasters. Not only did they broadcast news programs but also programs specifically for entertainment like the Amos n’ Andy Show which was a nightly serialized show made in the image of the old minstrel shows popular during the Gilded Age. Then we had the cinema, or movies, spreading mass culture as well. By the end of the 1920s, almost three quarters of the American population was attending movies on a weekly basis. One of the most significant films to be released was The Jazz Singer which was the first movie to have synchronized sound and music, and thus ended the silent film era. But it’s also going to be very important for you to know that as these new media were spreading a form of homogenized national culture through movies and radios, it also had the effect of emphasizing regional cultural differences as well, especially those differences in race, ethnicity, and region. For example, very few radio shows or movies depicted the black experience in America, unless it was their relationship to white Americans. So as many black Americans listened to these shows and watched these films which were the products of national culture—which is to say, they depicted what it looked like to be an American—many of them looked at their own lives and found that they were in fact distinct than the version of America given to them in popular culture. For the black population this distinction will lead to the Harlem Renaissance, but we’ll save that for the next video. And the same was true for rural folks who saw films portraying urban life. It served to show them that their way of life was in fact distinct. So that’s what I mean when I say that the national culture spread through media had a way of emphasizing distinctions among different people groups. getting an A in your class and a five on your exam in May. If you need more videos on Unit 7 topics, then this playlist right here will make all your dreams come true. And finally if you want me to keep making these videos to help you, then the way you let me know is by subscribing, Heimler out.