THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF NINEETEENTH-CENTURY INNOVATORS IN THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
A standard folk tale is of the immigrant who rose from poverty to a place of wealth in American business by ability and hard work. Some historians have questioned this story. They have found that most notable businessmen were native born of upper-middle class backgrounds. An examination of nineteen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Economic & Business History Society
2004-06-01
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| Series: | Essays in Economic and Business History |
| Online Access: | http://ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/ebhs/article/view/131 |
| Summary: | A standard folk tale is of the immigrant who rose from poverty to a place of wealth in American business by ability and hard work. Some historians have questioned this story. They have found that most notable businessmen were native born of upper-middle class backgrounds. An examination of nineteenth century steel industry innovators, however, demonstrates that the rags-to-riches story is not totally irrelevant. A statistical analysis shows that the proportion of immigrants and men from working class and farming backgrounds among a sample of steel industry innovators is significantly greater than those in the samples of the other writers.
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| ISSN: | 0896-226X |