Craft practice has a long history full of important events (Helland, Lemire, and Buis 1). Numerous researchers try to explore the events related to replacement of craft methods with mechanized methods of production (Smith and Martello 169). Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political theorist, presented a well-grounded exploration of the politics of skilled labor in the era of Industrialization in his article How an Aristocracy May Emerge from Industry, from Democracy in America. The analysis of the article helps to reveal its contribution to the twentieth-century craft history field.
Summary of the Main Theme
The main theme of the article is related to the hierarchy within America’s capitalist manufacturing system that was evolving in the 1830s. The author shares his observations on the changes in the character of the labor of craftsmen. The author reveals that when a craftsman does the same work every day, he becomes more weak and dependent. These changes lead to greater speed and economy, but cause the craftsmen to lose “the general faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work” (Tocqueville 62). Such situation is determined by the author as typical for America of that time. Besides, Tocqueville claims that the work of manufacturers of that time required much intelligence and a large amount of capital while previously such role was abandoned for “poor or ignorant craftsmen” (62). Therefore, the author demonstrates that the changes in the character of work of masters and workmen caused huge differences between them. Such situation logically promoted the manufacturers to become more aristocratic. However, the author emphasizes that aristocratic manufacturers did not have traditions or purposes in common, and, therefore they could not be unified into a definite class.
Moreover, there was no real bond between them and the poor, as masters and workmen were not continuously connected to duty or habit. The manufacturing aristocracy of that time did not have an opportunity to hold upon the employers, but neither had an obligation to provide some support for them. Such aristocracy used the workmen as long as there was a need, and, afterward, abandoned them “to be supported by the charity of the public” (Tocqueville 63). Therefore, the author concludes that such aristocracy was supposed to become the harshest that ever existed as it diminished the labor of employees. However, it did not present serious threat, as the employees were not bonded to one employer.
Contextualization for the Reading
The article describes the tendencies that occurred in the United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In particular, Tocqueville explores the specifics of politics of skilled labor witnessed by him during the tour to America in 1831-1832. That labor of that time was largely influenced by the changes in America’s capitalist manufacturing system. While previously craftsmen were regarded as people possessing specific knowledge that was difficult to obtain, the era described by the author faced the changes in the character of craftsmen’s work, as they became only a small part of the mechanism of manufacturing, and their labor became more narrowly specialized and less valued. The author explicitly describes the causes and consequences of such situation and explains the premises for the formation of manufacturing aristocracy. Therefore, the author’s article fits the context of the middle of the nineteenth century that was significant for the manufacturers gaining enormous power and dominating the society. The analysis of the politics of skilled labor in the 1830s in America provided by the author helps to explore the features of craft in that time and understand the specifics of the Industrial Revolution.
Besides being related to the Industrial Revolution, the theme of the article can be interpreted as connected to Arts and Crafts movement that began in 1860 (Triggs 1). Though the author wrote the article prior to the beginning of the movement and could not predict it, he presented an argumentation that helps to understand the situation in which craftsmen were put in the first half of the nineteenth century. The direction towards automation of craft described in the article reveals the factors that played a major role in encouraging craftsmen to unite against diminishing of their profession and substitution of human hands with machines resulting in an impoverished state of decorative arts. The article helps to understand the causes of the development of one of the most influential design movements of modern times (“The Arts & Crafts Movement” par. 1). The movement tried to oppose the tendencies described in the article and eliminate negative effects of industrialization “on design, on traditional skills, and on the lives of ordinary people” (“The Arts & Crafts Movement” par. 2).
The Role of the Article in Providing an Aspect of Twentieth Century Craft History
The article discussed above presents a well-developed piece of information that is crucial to understanding the premises for main events in the twentieth-century craft history. Though it does not explore the specifics of craft history of the twentieth century, it provides a careful analysis of the main features of the skilled labor in the beginning and middle of the nineteenth century. The tendencies described in the article demonstrate the way of manufacturers get to the top of the society, and, therefore, helps to understand why and when the process of domination of manufacturers started. Such information is crucial for understanding the premises and important features of the Industrial Revolution and the course of events of the twentieth century. Tocqueville’s analysis illustrates how the work of a craftsman was changed from a craft requiring intelligence and unique skills to the set of identical actions performed every day and mastered to the highest level of accuracy.
Such process can be considered an automation of skilled labor. Such situation explains the willing of manufacturers to find the ways of literal automation of labor which resulted in stimulating the innovations that lead to mass industrialization starting in Britain and spreading to America and all over the world (Crafts and O’Rourke 2). Therefore, Tocqueville’s analysis of politics of skilled labor in the first half of the nineteenth century in America makes a significant contribution to the field of twentieth-century craft history, as it is impossible to understand the nature of events that shaped craft history without exploring their premises. The article helps to identify when, how and why certain changes in craft labor evolved.
The article is well-written and presents a proof of the author’s talent for writing. Tocqueville managed to do complex and detailed research on the tendencies in the investigated area clear and comprehensible. Besides, the author masterly illustrates the relation between politics and skilled labor market. The language he uses is simple enough to be understandable for every educated person and, at the same time, appropriate enough for giving explanations and definitions for numerous phenomena in skilled labor. The article has a well-developed argument properly revealed by the author. The text can be divided into several parts: the introduction, the explanation of new changes in the work of craftsmen and masters (manufacturers), the explanation of the formation of manufacturing aristocracy as a consequence of these changes, and the conclusion. The transitions between the parts of the narrative are logic and fluent and help the reader to follow the author’s train of thought and delve into presented argumentation. The article is both informative and persuasive, as it shares a large piece of information and gives the appropriate facts proving the accuracy of the authors’ statements. Tocqueville’s article presents an example of well-structured argument related to craft history.
William Morris’s Red House in London can be considered an object that is pertinent to the theme explored in the article, as it presents an example of opposing the tendencies in capitalist manufacturing described in the article. This house can be considered an illustration of the way craftsmen tried to oppose the process of diminishing their work by manufacturers explored by Tocqueville.
The article does not clarify the differences between the twentieth and twenty-first-century approaches to craft, as it was written in the nineteenth century. However, it presents valuable evidence on the premises of the changes in approach to craft that occurred in the twentieth century. Though the aim of Tocqueville was to present the analysis of certain tendencies for his contemporaries, the article is relevant even nowadays, as my personal experience shows that all historical changes are interrelated with each other, and only comprehensive analysis can reveal the real causes of different events.
The careful analysis of the article reveals its important role in understanding the premises of events shaping the approach to craft in the twentieth century. The author managed to create a persuasive piece of information that remains relevant even today.
Works Cited
Crafts, Nicholas, and Kevin O’Rourke. “Twentieth Century Growth.” Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History 117 (2013): 1-97. Web.
Helland, Janice, Beverly Lemire, and Alena Buis. Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th Century, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2014. Print.
Smith, Merrit Roe, and Robert Martello. “Taking Stock of the Industrial Revolution in America.” Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution. Ed. Jeff Horn, Leonard Rosenband, and Merritt Roe Smith. Boston, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2010. 169-201. Print.
The Arts & Crafts Movement. n.d. Web.
Tocqueville, Alexis. “How an Aristocracy May Emerge from Industry, from Democracy in America.” The Craft Reader. Ed. Glenn Adamson. New York: Berg, 2010. 61-64. Print.
Triggs, Oscar Lovell. Arts & Crafts Movement, New York: Parkstone International, 2009. Print.