After the Civil War, Americans began to lose their moral values, advocate materialism and money worship, and social life was in chaos. The polarization of wealth distribution often reaches its peak at the end of 19. The richest family, which only accounts for 0.0 16% of the total number of American families, accounted for 3.6% of the national wealth in 1860 and rose to 9.6% in 1890. According to the materials disclosed in 1893, it is estimated that 9% of the families occupied 7 1% of the national wealth at that time. Due to industrialization and mechanization, the huge peasant population has been weakened and replaced by an urban proletarian army. 1900, about 60%-88% of the population in China was poor. During the period of 1896- 19 10, the national wealth held by the richest 1% population increased from 8% to 15%. During the same period, the gross national product of the United States tripled, but the total wages of workers were only four times, which reflected the relative decline of workers' economic status.
Corrupt acts of collusion between officials and businessmen emerge one after another. Officials use their power to collude with officials and businessmen and trade power and money. From Congress to the municipal government, it has become a gathering place for corrupt elements.
A series of social problems have become the curtain exposed by people of insight. The rise of popular magazines has created good communication conditions for exposing shady stories. During the 20 years from 1893 to 19 13, the number of people buying magazines in the United States increased from 250,000 to 3 million. Because magazines are enterprises, "shady exposure" is only a means of profit, which will be restrained by monopoly companies, or be annexed or threatened to withdraw advertisements, which will make the cause of shady exposure unsustainable. But with the support of shady reporters, shady exposure can last.
Shady whistleblowers cover all walks of life, such as university professors, reformers, environmentalists, priests and government officials, but the main initiators are a group of journalists. Professional whistleblowers are 12 male journalists and 1 female journalists, who have written about 600 shady articles and 90 books, accounting for 1/3 of the total shady articles. They specialize in exposing shady scenes, and each field has its own division of labor, covering almost the major social problems in the early 20th century, such as government corruption, illegal monopoly of trusts, unhealthy counterfeit drugs and food, child labor and racial discrimination. The shady reporters are roughly divided into two factions. First, reporters who report objectively and seriously are known as "scholar-type" shady whistleblowers, and their representatives are Lincoln Steffens, Eda Tabell and so on. Stephens writes an average of four reports a year, thoroughly exposing government corruption. Tabell spent five years investigating and compiling a book, The History of Mobil Oil Company. In his magnum opus, Tabell reveals that monopoly destroys healthy individualism. The other school is a "writer-type" shady whistleblower represented by David Graham Philip and upton sinclair. The former exposed the corrupt behavior of American senators through a series of reports on the betrayal of the Senate. Although the latter only spent seven weeks on-the-spot investigation, with his extraordinary talent, he wrote Slaughterhouse, which exposed the chaos in Chicago slaughterhouse and had a great influence, which directly promoted the promulgation of the Pure American Food and Drug Administration Act.
These shady reporters are called "freedom fighters". They were usually born before and after the American Civil War, and Lincoln was their idol since childhood. Influenced by the democratic atmosphere for a long time, they are well-off. Most of them received good early education and higher education, and some of them also studied in Europe and absorbed scientific research methods. As journalists, they combine the characteristics of progressive intellectuals: educated, enterprising, strong sense of social responsibility, advocating capitalist values and full of optimism about the future. They are aboveboard and believe in democracy. They think that if they know these ills, they should stand up and take action to deal with them. They rake dung because they love the world. Although they resent injustice, there is no hatred in their hearts. Although they exposed the social malpractice to the fullest, they did not want to overthrow the American system, but hoped to awaken people's hearts, promote reform and realize justice through exposure. Everyone has a patriotic heart and loves his country deeply. They are both individualists and nationalists. For them, although the United States is ugly, it is still their hometown, and they are still Americans. Through reform, the United States will eventually become better.
/kloc-In the second half of the 9th century, with the "take-off" and industrialization of the American economy, the social class opposition in the United States intensified, which can be seen from the large-scale workers and peasants organizations and movements at that time. It is worth noting that American industrialization has not only created two opposing classes-the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat, but also made the middle class rise suddenly and become the backbone of American society. With the polarization between the rich and the poor intensified, social unrest and class conflicts intensified, and the middle class actively advocated reform, which became the driving force of American social reform at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. It can be said that the middle class is the adhesive of American society, and it is they who ensure the transformation of American society from disorder to orderly peace and stability. The strongest social support of the American shady movement was the emerging middle class at that time.
The middle class has relatively fixed jobs and higher incomes. They are not afraid of life embarrassment and have some leisure time, so they have time and energy to participate in social activities and devote themselves to public welfare undertakings. The middle class is divided into two categories: professional technicians (doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, architects, etc. ) and white-collar workers engaged in mental work in companies and governments (unproductive employees such as companies and government civil servants). ). During the period of 1870- 19 10, the total population of the United States more than tripled, among which the working class tripled, the peasants increased by 1 times, and the old middle class only tripled, but the new middle class increased by nearly seven times, accounting for 63% of the middle class. The middle class played a very important role in guiding the reform public opinion at that time and played a vital role in forming a healthy public opinion environment in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is undeniable that the efforts of shady reporters could not have had such a great historical impact without the echo of government reform. As the incumbent president, theodore roosevelt has made great contributions to American social reform. However, as a politician, Roosevelt's attitude towards the news is fundamentally different from that of an intellectual shady whistleblower. Roosevelt hoped to publicize his reform achievements and social harmony through the media. So when Phillips serialized The Betrayal of the Senate in cosmopolitan1906, Roosevelt was very angry after reading it and thought it was irresponsible news. In his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the House of Representatives office building on April 1906, he severely accused the whistleblower of knowing nothing about the world and only paying attention to "the filth on the ground". If they continue to think that the whole world is just filthy, then their useful power (supervision) will be gone. Roosevelt's public condemnation caused an uproar throughout the country. The shady reporter was very angry, but then he followed suit and used Roosevelt's criticism to build momentum for himself, looking for stains everywhere like a dung rake. And those popular magazines also seize the opportunity of distribution and actively encourage the exposure of ugliness. Reformers from other industries also joined in, and a massive "shady exposure movement" began. It can be said that 1906 is the climax of the shady exposure movement.
To sum up, shady reporters are propagandists of shady exposure movement, and they make full use of popular magazines as propaganda positions to set off shady exposure movement. The middle class is the mass base of American shady movement, the democratic audience of shady journalists and popular magazines, and the main force of American social reform in the early 20th century. But to realize the reform from the system, we must rely on the government behavior advocated by Roosevelt. Roosevelt's "support" and "propaganda" for the shady movement is a coincidence, but it is undeniable that Roosevelt skillfully combined the shady movement with his progressive reform movement by virtue of his cunning and generosity, and the American society successfully realized the transformation.
Social transformation refers to the transformation from a poor society to a rich society, and it is also the growth of civic awareness and democratic awareness. American progressive intellectuals agree that improving public judgment is the key to solving the American social crisis at the turn of the century. Only when citizens get together to discuss and judge local and national issues that affect their lives can the public's judgment be improved. Only through such public discussion can citizens master the necessary skills of "democracy": listening, persuading, arguing, compromising and finding common ground.
Progressive intellectuals believe that the distinction between "the public" and "the masses" is very strict. The "public" pursues democracy, rationality and science, and is an educated person. "Public opinion" is a rational opinion to find problems, discuss problems and seek solutions. And "the public" refers to those fanatics who are casual and will be used by a few privileged classes. "The opinions of the masses" are often random, unorganized and even fanatical and blind. In order to cultivate the "public", shady reporters have made two efforts: first, they have made extensive exposure to let the people know about the national conditions and stimulate their numb nerves, so as to achieve the enlightenment effect of "knowing must make progress". Second, it calls for reform to expand people's rights and opportunities to participate in and discuss state affairs, such as citizens' right to create, citizens' right to vote, right to recall, direct primary election and direct election of senators. Only in this way can democracy be maintained.
Conclusion: The strength of social innovation comes from the joint efforts of shady whistleblowers, progressive intellectuals and their attached middle class, democratic masses and power elites. [Author Xiao Huafeng, professor. School of Foreign Languages, Jiangxi Normal University 330027]
As can be seen from the above, the "dung scraping" movement in the United States consists of four parts:
1, dung collector: ideal, advocating capitalist values and not wanting to overthrow the American system.
2, communication tools: mercenary, unscrupulous to attract readers.
3, the middle class: unlike the poor, they don't like violence, and the revolution will make them lose their wealth. Unlike the rich,
They are dissatisfied with the status quo and want to change.
4. The will of the central leadership: As an enlightened reform president, Roosevelt linked the shady exposure movement with his master of progress.
The reform movement of righteousness combined with the successful transformation of American society.