The Gilded Age-History Repeating Itself?

The Gilded Age - History Repeating Itself? “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” according to the famous quote credited to Spanish philosopher George Santayana. Through the practice of evaluating a society, the lessons of history allow us to study humanities evolution and how that influences the culture, economy, and political spheres of society. However does the study of our history lead to change or are circumstances merely reproduced and molded to fit the context of the day. One United States time period that is thought to be repeating itself today is the Gilded Age of 1865 – 1900 which while a period of swift economic growth was also steeped in social conflict. Mark Twain satirically named the period

Income inequality is one of the biggest indicators of the Gilded Age. During the Gilded Age there were huge disparities between the rich and poor which were often fueled by corruption. It was a time that was characterized by ruthless pursuit of profit, conspicuous consumption, government corruption, and vulgarity in taste and manners. With the American myth of the self-made man being wide-spread, it became socially acceptable to look down on the poor as unworthy because the elite society held that an earnest person could “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” if they were experiencing hard times (Nash 549). Income inequality was a defining factor of the Gilded Age, and compares similarly to the income inequality of today. Those who are within the top 1 percent in terms of wealth in the United States in the current era also have a large amount of control over the wealth in the United States. The 400 wealthiest Americans now own more than all of the rest of Americans (150 million) put together (Schulz 1). It has been found that almost two thirds of United States net private assets are concentrated in the hands of five percent of Americans (Schulz 1). Income distribution today is actually more uneven then during the first Gilded Age (Wagner

The Gilded Age was defined by its polarizing division of wealth and the mindset that was brought about by capitalism. During the Gilded Age, there was an expansion of commerce and heavy industry (Maicionis and Parillo 25). It saw the increase in several industries such as railroads, iron, electricity, steel, oil, and coal (Maicionis and Parillo 25). It was also a time where there was an increase in the effects of technological development on workers (Maicionis and Parillo 25). This form of industrialization had several consequences with one of them being urbanization. Factories were created in places where people live, cities. Then with more jobs in a place, people migrated to that place for employment. This industrialization is what led to urbanization during the Gilded Age. “Crony capitalism, inequality, extravagance, social Darwinian self-justification, blame the victim callousness, free-market hypocrisy: Thus it was, thus it is again!” (Fraser) Urbanization is also occurring today, but not because of industrialization. Today, urbanization is still occurring and is largely thought to be an after effect of the Industrial Revolution of long ago (Maicionis and Parillo 180). As a model, countless of the jobs that exist in America today are located in cities. For that very reason, many people still move to cities. Though, there is a movement towards suburbia for some people, the amount of people who are