Event Title
The Sincerity of Reform: The Ford Motor Company
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
History
Mentor Information
Matthew Daley
Department
History
Location
Kirkhof Center 2216
Start Date
11-4-2012 1:30 PM
Keywords
Culture, Ethics, Freedom and Control, Historical Perspectives, Identity, Social Class, Social Science
Abstract
The Ford Motor Company's Five Dollar Day labor program led to a multifaceted array of philanthropic initiatives that ran between 1914 and 1921. A progressive spirit within the company led many executives to initiate programs influenced by intellectual discourses regarding the public concern for American social structure. Often, historians have sought to analyze the entire history of the company or Henry Ford himself, especially with an orientation towards production. Contrary to this focus, this research shows how the Ford Motor Company reached beyond its employment base. A financial capacity to employ wide and powerful reforms allowed executives to pressure Detroit's lower classes with the same coercive reform initiatives subjected to employees. The Ford Motor Company insisted on spreading its motto of "help the other fellow" as far as possible. Through this study, a brief and intense example of welfare capitalism illustrates the implications of broad corporate reach.
The Sincerity of Reform: The Ford Motor Company
Kirkhof Center 2216
The Ford Motor Company's Five Dollar Day labor program led to a multifaceted array of philanthropic initiatives that ran between 1914 and 1921. A progressive spirit within the company led many executives to initiate programs influenced by intellectual discourses regarding the public concern for American social structure. Often, historians have sought to analyze the entire history of the company or Henry Ford himself, especially with an orientation towards production. Contrary to this focus, this research shows how the Ford Motor Company reached beyond its employment base. A financial capacity to employ wide and powerful reforms allowed executives to pressure Detroit's lower classes with the same coercive reform initiatives subjected to employees. The Ford Motor Company insisted on spreading its motto of "help the other fellow" as far as possible. Through this study, a brief and intense example of welfare capitalism illustrates the implications of broad corporate reach.