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Created page with 'The '''Robber Baron''' image of leading American businessmen was a hostile stereotype created by anti-capitalist writers in the Progressive Era (1890-1920s) who denounced big...'
The '''Robber Baron''' image of leading American businessmen was a hostile stereotype created by anti-capitalist writers in the [[Progressive Era]] (1890-1920s) who denounced big business was bad because it supposedly hurt workers, consumers and democracy.
The "robber" theme meant the businessmen seized the wealth created by the workers--the assumption was that capital did not create wealth, only manual labor.
The "baron" theme suggested they were anti-democratic aristocrats who rejected the core values of American [[republicanism]].
[[Business History]] scholars beginning in the 1920s and led by Professor [[Alan Nevins]] at Columbia University and later [[Alfred D. Chandler]] at Harvard, refuted the false "Robber Baron" image. The image occasionally appears in textbooks and, more often, in history lectures or editorials written from a leftist perspective. The image is distinctly American--European and Asians rarely displayed it.
[[Category:Economic history]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Historiography]]
The "robber" theme meant the businessmen seized the wealth created by the workers--the assumption was that capital did not create wealth, only manual labor.
The "baron" theme suggested they were anti-democratic aristocrats who rejected the core values of American [[republicanism]].
[[Business History]] scholars beginning in the 1920s and led by Professor [[Alan Nevins]] at Columbia University and later [[Alfred D. Chandler]] at Harvard, refuted the false "Robber Baron" image. The image occasionally appears in textbooks and, more often, in history lectures or editorials written from a leftist perspective. The image is distinctly American--European and Asians rarely displayed it.
[[Category:Economic history]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Historiography]]