As modern people, many of us take for granted that much of the economic world we live in - advertisements, shopping malls, customer service - has always been there. We've always been a nation of "shoppers"; businesses have always striven to find better, more entertaining ways of getting our attention in order to sell us their goods. But Chapter 16 of our text works to explain the evolution and growth of these and many other modern business practices.
Yet, we also know that work changed drastically for workers during this era. Professions changed (or disappeared!), labor practices changed, and many of those same "shoppers" who gain all of the new options this era created are also subject to the same exploitative practices that rampant and unchecked industrialization and economic expansion can create.
So, my question is: Did the average American consumer ("shopper) / worker benefit from our nation's rapid economic changes overall? Does greater consumer freedom cancel out the potential downsides of a "mechanized" workplace?