American Urbanization And The Sense Of "Loss Of Innocence"

As an indispensable part of the modernization process, urbanization hadproduced profound influence on American history. Numerous scholars have, fromdifferent standpoints, conducted researches in this field, and confirmed the positiverole of urban expansion in promoting social and economic development in America.However, at the same time when it realized unprecedented progress, urbanization alsobrought about numerous problems. The great changes taken place in people's life, thewidening gap between the rich and the poor, and the intensifying social and classconflicts generated a sense of uneasiness among people, which led them to questionthe negative effects of urban growth. A particular psychological phenomenonappeared which was given the name – the sense of "loss of innocence".By analyzing the definitions of "loss of innocence", the current thesis plans toexplore the social progress, changes and problems brought about by urbanizationagainst the historical background of the nineteenth-century America.Firstly, the thesis introduces the four major phases of urbanization in America,and emphasizes the great influence transportation revolution and industrializationproduced on urban growth. The two factors were the preconditions of urbanization.Then, the thesis defines the sense of "loss of innocent" from two perspectives:people's changing life and the social problems they faced. And it reveals that theindividual ownership of land, the migration of labors from agriculture to industry, andthe intensified social and class conflicts are the factors underlying this particular sense.In the following chapter, the thesis analyzes the improved productivity and socialprogress reflected in the two definitions above, and points out the long-existingproblems of class conflicts and inequality in wealth distribution in America.Based on these analyses, the thesis reaches the conclusion in the end that "lossof innocence" reflected, from an indirect perspective, the great progress Americaachieved in its urbanization. As society was developing, problems and conflicts werestrengthened. The sense of "loss of innocence" was inevitable.