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Protecting Family and Race

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  • Thomas C. Leonard

Abstract

American economics came of age during the Progressive Era, a time when biological approaches to economic reform were at their high‐water mark. Reform‐minded economists argued that the labor force should be rid of unfit workers—whom they labeled “unemployables,”“parasites,” and the “industrial residuum”—so as to uplift superior, deserving workers. Women were also frequently classified as unemployable. Leading progressives, including women at the forefront of labor reform, justified exclusionary labor legislation for women on grounds that it would (1) protect the biologically weaker sex from the hazards of market work; (2) protect working women from the temptation of prostitution; (3) protect male heads of household from the economic competition of women; and (4) ensure that women could better carry out their eugenic duties as “mothers of the race.” What united these heterogeneous rationales was the reformers’ aim of discouraging women's labor‐force participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Protecting Family and Race," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 757-791, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:64:y:2005:i:3:p:757-791
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00391.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sidney Webb, 1912. "The Economic Theory of a Legal Minimum Wage," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(10), pages 973-973.
    2. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Mistaking Eugenics for Social Darwinism: Why Eugenics Is Missing from the History of American Economics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 37(5), pages 200-233, Supplemen.
    3. Alfred Marshall, 1897. "The Old Generation of Economists and the New," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 11(2), pages 115-135.
    4. James A. Field, 1911. "The Progress of Eugenics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 26(1), pages 1-67.
    5. Prasch, Robert E., 1998. "American Economists and Minimum Wage Legislation During the Progressive Era: 1912–1923," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 161-175, June.
    6. Thomas C. Leonard, 2003. "“A Certain Rude Honesty”: John Bates Clark as a Pioneering Neoclassical Economist," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 35(3), pages 521-558, Fall.
    7. C. E. Persons, 1915. "Women's Work and Wages in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 29(2), pages 201-234.
    8. Peart, Sandra J. & Levy, David M., 2003. "Denying Human Homogeneity: Eugenics & The Making of Post-Classical Economics," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 261-288, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Phillip W. Magness, 2018. "The Progressive Legacy Rolls On: A Critique of Steinbaum and Weisberger on Illiberal Reformers," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20–34, January.
    2. James Rolph Edwards, 2011. "The Decline in Work Time and the Increase in Free Time of Manufacturing Employees from 1890 to World War I," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 26(Spring 20), pages 47-59.
    3. David Levy, 2008. "Margaret Schabas: The Natural Origins of Economics," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 361-367, December.
    4. Abdallah Zouache, 2014. "De la question coloniale chez les anciens et néo-institutionnalistes," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 124(1), pages 129-149.
    5. Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, Cléo, 2019. "Is Equal Pay Worth it?," OSF Preprints 8cq9j, Center for Open Science.
    6. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Retrospectives: Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 207-224, Fall.
    7. Mark M. Smith, 2005. "Finding Deficiency," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 887-900, July.

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