Class-Based Discrimination During The 1920's

Class-Based Discrimination
Class relations also had a strong influence on anti-alcohol beliefs. The economic elite tended to be strong supporters of Prohibition. Many believed that alcohol was a force resulting in an unstable and disorderly society, including influential tycoons like John D. Rockefeller.21 The elite also saw the variety of economic gains they believed they could achieve from Prohibition, with potentially greater efficiency, fewer industrial accidents and as such less worker’s compensation, laborers’ wages not being spent on liquor, fewer strikes, and workers spending more on commodities.22 Henry Ford, industrialist tycoon, expressed concern regarding the, “possibility of diminished productivity among immigrant laborers who drank frequently”.23 It was even claimed that the act of closing saloons in an area had resulted in “increased bank deposits, higher real estate values, and a construction boom”.24 These sort of business appeals were favored by
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, another advocate of Prohibition, had difficulty appealing to lower classes, according to Woman’s World/Woman’s Empire by Ian R Tyrrell, as their ideology reflected, “conventional American middle-class religion [Protestantism] and morality common among professionals, shopkeepers, merchants, and other business people”.26 A limitation of Tyrell’s work may be his focus on long-term and international perspectives regarding the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which may reflect attitudes regarding Prohibition that do not apply to discussion about American