Cheap Amusements Essay, Research Paper

Kathy Peiss describes the leisure activities of young working women living in

New York during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in her book

Cheap Amusements. The book explores the emergence of a young female working

class and the conflict the women encountered with the "Old World"

traditions. Peiss also explores the commercialization of leisure and the

socialization of female leisure. The results of these changes brought about what

Peiss calls: "cheap amusements." During the middle nineteenth century,

women observed "Old World" traditions in respect to leisure. Most

leisure activities for women were labor oriented and close personal

relationships between women were frowned upon as deviant. Peiss explains this

during the first few chapters of Cheap Amusements. The emergence of a young

female working class caused a strain on the "Old World" traditions and

leisure activities for women became controversial. The traditional role of women

was changing due to the economic pressures from industrialization. As more young

women began to work in the same conditions as young men, women gained the right

to engage in amusement as a man would. Peiss discovers the commercialization of

amusement to support the woman’s’ struggle for leisure freedom. The businessmen

in amusement saw the female working population as an untapped market for

exploiting. The amusement business was booming due to the industrialization of

cities and the need for leisure activities for the large population of workers.

Amusement came in a variety of forms such as: social clubs, dances, variety

shows, amusement parks, cheap theatre, nickel dumps, and even standing on the

street corner. The businessman’s goal was to make a profit off of these

activities. With the exception of standing on the street corner, most leisure

activities were commercialized and turned a profit. In opposition to the

businessman were the mothers and fathers that still lived by "Old

World" traditions and did not want their daughters or sons engaging in some

of the activities. The exploitation of heterosexuality was extremely

controversial and Peiss sites this as a major hang-up in the changing of female

leisure activities. The emergence of the dance hall and the attending of these

establishments by unattended females were a primary concern for conservatives.

The concept of "picking up" that is, two strangers meeting for the

first time and enjoying each other’s company for the night, was the new craze.

(102). The mothers and fathers saw this as an act of disrespect for ones self

and an exploitation of sexuality. The struggle to maintain control over the

leisure activities of a young girl became even more difficult whenever she was

working. Most mothers had not made money as a bachelorette and balked at the

wishes of their daughters to spend their free time at these new activities that

involved young men. Kathy Peiss makes the world of a young working female in New

York City, living around the turn of the century, come to life in less than two

hundred pages. The author’s book is a success because of the colorful way she

describes the conflicts that occur throughout the book. Any reader of history

would find this book a good resource for research as well as enjoyable reading.

Moreover, a researcher of sociology would find the information in the book to be

of interest, especially if they are interested in the women’s movement in modern

America.

Peiss, Kathy. Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of

-the-Century New York (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1986).