The Transformation of Everyday Life

And there is no doubt, of course, that these are all a part of the historical record. These things happened and they made a substantial difference in the way in which people around the world went about their lives. But there is another level to history, one that we too often forget. And it is surprising that we should do so, because it is on this level that most of us experience historical change. History happens not just in big steps, but in little baby ones as well. Little baby steps that add up to enormous changes over time.

The essay "The Transformation of Everyday Life" examines some of the changes in the everyday lives of people between the beginning and the middle of the 20th century and the middle and end of the century just ended. None of the information that is contained within this essay will surprise us per se - we all know that in 1900 there was no air travel and that in 1950 humans had not yet go

. . .
that 30 percent of all employed Americans are now members of this Creative Class, which includes all those "whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or new creative content" who are surrounded by another class of what the author calls "creative professionals in business and finance, law, health care and related fields" (p. 8). The fact that so many of us today spend at least a goodly amount of our working day doing something creative rather than repetitive and either physically dangerous or spiritually crushing (or both) gives our lives a lightness that our grandparents would have envied. The fundamental economic dynamic of society has changed as well. People in 1900 were likely to work on farmland that had been in a family for generations. In 1950, they were likely to stay with the same company for their entire working lives, unless they were women, in which case they would have few economic options. The fact that most of us today will change careers at least once as well as jobs a half a dozen times has implications far beyond the merely economic: It means that our sense of self, of who we are and why life is valuable, has changed: Very few of us work for the same large company or organization for lif
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Creative Class, Everyday Life, Neil Armstrong's, , World Europeans, Rome Berlin, little baby, society changed, human creativity, cultural changes,
Approximate Word count = 1203
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)