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> Which made cheap shoes and clothes available to everybody. I'd argue the efficiency in production led to lower prices - while the concentration in wealth mos
by e12e 3y ago
> Which made cheap shoes and clothes available to everybody.
I'd argue the efficiency in production led to lower prices - while the concentration in wealth mostly kept buying power/living standards lower for the workers (or; capitalist class reaped an unfair share of productivity gains).
I believe commodisation of "knowledge" work will lead to lower prices (and unfair distribution) too.
- WalterBright 3y agoThe standard of living of the poor in America went up all through the 19th century. Things like average height and longevity are strong markers of that. Also, average clothing sizes increased dramatically. Go take a look at Fort Williams, and at the clothes in it they preserved. They look like kids' clothes. The same for Civil War uniforms. Larger than the FW clothes, but still looking like kid clothes. I flipped through a high school history book a few years ago, and it insisted that the middle class in America didn't emerge until FDR. This is laughably wrong. It was there from the beginning.