American exceptionalism, American anxiety
Subtitle: wages, competition, and degraded labor in the Antebellum United States
By: Jonathan A. Glickstein.
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Charlottesville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 361
Subjects: Labor -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Working poor -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Wages -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Subsistence economy -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Work ethic -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Capitalism -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Social classes -- Northeastern States -- History -- 19th century; Slavery -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century; Labor economics -- United States -- States -- History -- 19th century; Competition -- United States -- States -- History -- 19th century; United States -- Economic conditions -- To 1865
Description: "The Mythology of nineteenth-century American economic exceptionalism trumpeted the positive work incentives prevailing in a society of scarce labor, weak class barriers, and abundant opportunity. This ideology agreed with the optimistic vein of political economy, in which high wages went hand in hand with increased productivity.

What, then, was the supposed role of poverty, the fear of poverty, and other negative work incentives in the era of early industrial capitalism and escalating sectional conflict over slavery? American Exceptionalism, American Anxiety examines a wide spectrum of antebellum American thought on these and related issues, including slavery and cheap immigrant and female sweated labor."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.