Social Security was established in the 1930s and many people know that Social Security was a response to the Great Depression when there were few safety nets available to provide benefits to the elderly and disabled, but what was the atmosphere that led to the Great Depression, which then led to Social Security?
Below Social Security chronicles the changes America was going through leading up to the Great Depression, which gives some insight as to how our country changed forever back then and eventually Social Security was born.
America Changes
Despite all of the institutional strategies adopted in early America to assure some measure of economic security, huge changes would sweep through America which would, in time, undermine the existing institutions. Four important demographic changes happened in America beginning in the mid-1880s that rendered the traditional systems of economic security increasingly unworkable:
- The Industrial Revolution
- The urbanization of America
- The disappearance of the “extended” family
- A marked increase in life expectancy
The Industrial Revolution transformed the majority of working people from self-employed agricultural workers into wage earners working for large industrial concerns. In an agricultural society, prosperity could be easily seen to be linked to one’s labor, and anyone willing to work could usually provide at least a bare subsistence for themselves and their family. But when economic income is primarily from wages, one’s economic security can be threatened by factors outside one’s control–such as recessions, layoffs, failed businesses, etc. Along with the shift from an agricultural to an industrial society, Americans moved from farms and small rural communities to large cities–that’s where the industrial jobs were. In 1890, only 28 percent of the population lived in cities, by 1930 this percentage had exactly doubled, to 56 percent.
This trend toward urbanization also contributed to another significant shift in American society, the disappearance of the extended family and the rapid rise of the nuclear family. Today we tend to assume that “the family” consists of parents and children–the so-called nuclear family. For most of our history, we lived in “extended families” that included children, parents, grandparents and other relatives. The advantage of the extended family was that when a family member became too old or infirm to work, the other family members assumed responsibility for their support. But when the able-bodied left the farms to seek employment in the cities, often the parents or grandparents stayed behind. And when new immigrants first arrived in our land, it was often the breadwinner who first made the passage and only later could he bring the family over. And finally, another significant change happened in the early decades of this century. Thanks primarily to better health care and sanitation, and the development of effective public health programs, Americans began to live significantly longer. In three short decades, 1900-1930, average life spans increased by 10 years. This was the most rapid increase in life spans in recorded human history. The result was a rapid growth in the number of aged persons, to 7.8 million by 1935. The net result of this complex set of demographic and social changes was that America was older, more urban and more industrial, and fewer of its people lived on the land in extended families. The traditional strategies for the provision of economic security were becoming increasingly fragile.
