Embedded in the consciousness of Americans throughout much of the country's history has been the American Dream: that every citizen, no matter how humble his beginnings, is free to climb to the top of the social and economic ladder. Poverty and Progress assesses the claims of the American Dream against the actual structure of economic and social opportunities in a typical nineteenth century industrial community--Newburyport, Massachusetts. Here is local history. With the aid of newspapers, census reports, and local tax, ...
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Embedded in the consciousness of Americans throughout much of the country's history has been the American Dream: that every citizen, no matter how humble his beginnings, is free to climb to the top of the social and economic ladder. Poverty and Progress assesses the claims of the American Dream against the actual structure of economic and social opportunities in a typical nineteenth century industrial community--Newburyport, Massachusetts. Here is local history. With the aid of newspapers, census reports, and local tax, school, and savings bank records Stephan Thernstrom constructs a detailed and vivid portrait of working class life in Newburyport from 1850 to 1880, the critical years in which this old New England town was transformed into a booming industrial city. To determine how many self-made men there really were in the community, he traces the career patterns of hundreds of obscure laborers and their sons over this thirty year period, exploring in depth the differing mobility patterns of native-born and Irish immigrant workmen. Out of this analysis emerges the conclusion that opportunities for occupational mobility were distinctly limited. Common laborers and their sons were rarely able to attain middle class status, although many rose from unskilled to semiskilled or skilled occupations. But another kind of mobility was widespread. Men who remained in lowly laboring jobs were often strikingly successful in accumulating savings and purchasing homes and a plot of land. As a result, the working class was more easily integrated into the community; a new basis for social stability was produced which offset the disruptive influences that accompanied the first shock of urbanization and industrialization. Since Newburyport underwent changes common to other American cities, Thernstrom argues, his findings help to illuminate the social history of nineteenth century America and provide a new point of departure for gauging mobility trends in our society today. Correlating the Newburyport evidence with comparable studies of twentieth century cities, he refutes the popular belief that it is now more difficult to rise from the bottom of the social ladder than it was in the idyllic past. The "blocked mobility" theory was proposed by Lloyd Warner in his famous "Yankee City" studies of Newburyport; Thernstrom provides a thorough critique of the "Yankee City" volumes and of the ahistorical style of social research which they embody.
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Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $4.75, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1980 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $4.79, good condition, Sold by Poverty Hill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Mt. Prospect, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1980 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $4.99, good condition, Sold by Newsboy Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ontario, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1969 by Scribner.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $5.28, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1969 by Holiday House.
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Good. Good condition. (history) A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Add this copy of Poverty & Progress Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $7.00, fair condition, Sold by Harry Alter Books rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sylva, NC, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $8.00, good condition, Sold by Bingo Used Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Vancouver, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1968 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress-Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $8.00, fair condition, Sold by Jonathan Grobe Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Deep River, IA, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Harvard.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by floydlynx rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Floyd, VA, UNITED STATES, published 1969 by Holiday House.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $15.00, very good condition, Sold by Kenneth Mallory, ABAA rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Decatur, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Harvard University Press.
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Very good. Hardcover. xii, 282pp+ index. Spine lightly sunned, else a very good hardback in publisher's plum cloth; no jacket. Ink name on front free endpaper, else internally fine.
Add this copy of Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nineteenth to cart. $15.00, good condition, Sold by Kubik Fine Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dayton, OH, UNITED STATES, published 1970 by Atheneum.
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Good. 268p. A softcover book in good condition. Front cover is foxed. Top corners are dampstained and bottom corners are bent. Text otherwise clean, and binding tight.
