Monday, January 25, 2010

Not completely convinced...

Enstad argues that working women during the early 20th century used fashion, dime novels and popular film as a way to channel political standing and fight against the poor working conditions to which they were being subjected. It is an interesting argument, but I'm not completely convinced. One of the main reasons is because of her focus group. She narrows in on the Italian and Jewish immigrant populations in New York City. Sure, I'll go along with Enstad with the fashion and film argument, but not with the dime novels and their influence on this group of women changing their appearance and attitudes. What I find to be weak her is her lack of assessment of literacy in English of these immigrant women. For many immigrants, their schooling was sporadic and limited. If they were not literate in English, how then could they read and be influenced by these novels which depicted women rising from terrible conditions and backgrounds and becoming successful and powerful? Therefore, I'm not completely convinced that dime novels were as influential as Enstad argues.
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4 comments:

  1. DMStehlinJanuary 25, 2010 at 3:27 PM

    I'd have to agree. Especially considering not only the individuals that Enstad chose for her analysis, but also the lack of primary source material describing the working women within the actual labor efforts, like the Strike of 19009.
    Although Enstad does bring up an interesting issue regarding popular culture. She seems to argue that the pop culture of the time helped the working women to realize their identities....er sorry, subjectivities. This is why she argues that her purpose is to connect cultral and social history.
    Maybe this is a chicken or the egg question, but did these women contribute to the development of pop culture, or vice versa? Or is she trying to create a distinction between middle-class pop culture and working-class popular culture? Or maybe I'm just reading way too much into this.

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  2. Dongsung MoonJanuary 25, 2010 at 4:13 PM

    Hey guys! I do not know how I write my comment in this blog... Only I could do was post a comment here...

    ReplyDelete
  3. DMStehlinJanuary 25, 2010 at 4:33 PM

    Dongsung: If you've signed in to the blog through Dr. Herzberg's email invitation, you should have at the top right of this page an option to add a New Post.

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  4. Dongsung MoonJanuary 25, 2010 at 4:47 PM

    Oh thanks Dave. I can write.

    ReplyDelete

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