Abstract
The historical period of the 1890's and 1900's in the US is the time when the economy in the country experienced the corporate capitalism. Indeed, big corporations led the market with no pity for the small businesses. Skilled workers, big capitalists and businessmen who could get new markets were the winner of this corporatism age. But at the opposite their wealth happened at the detriment of the worker. 1890-1900 is the time when the gap between the richer and the poorer is deepened. Social conditions had never been worse and the American Dream seemed to be a chimera. How mechanization of production, the great merger movement from 1899 to 1904 and judicial decisions and the power of the courts contributed to produce and perpetuate these conditions?
From the end of the XIXth century to the 1910's a huge wave of mechanization occurred in the industry. There was a huge investment in machines and plants. The mechanization of the industry is the replacement of skilled workers by machines. THe mechanization offered big opportunities for the industry : the work got faster, less workers were needed to do the work and unskilled workers were qualified to do the job creating huge savings. The assembly line is the perfect example of the mechanization as the scientific management of the work intended to create. This concept had been created by Henry Ford as a blend between rationalization and efficiency. The work is divided at precise moments and the workers constantly repeat the same task. But consequences of the mechanization and the scientific management of work clearly catastrophic for the worker. Indeed, while the profits roused for big industries, the work became dehumanized and people were deskilling.
