Courteous Capitalism: Public Relations and the Monopoly Problem, 1900-1930

A provocative history of how corporate titans in the 1920s used a massive public relations campaign to transform public opinion on big business.

In the early twentieth century, as Americans erupted in righteous indignation over the flagrant abuses of big business, utility executives faced an existential crisis. With calls for strict regulation or outright government ownership of utilities, how could streetcar, electricity, and telephone executives thwart municipal ownership, rein in regulation, and secure huge profits?

In Courteous Capitalism, Daniel Robert reveals how utility executives answered this question by launching the largest nongovernmental public relations campaign the nation had ever seen. In part, this campaign encouraged managers to compel their clerks to exude "courtesy," "sunshine," and "patience" toward customers. Rather than bribe the few, executives would convert the many using a combination of emotional labor and improved customer service. At the same time, executives organized the widespread manipulation of the press, schools, radio, and movies.

At once a labor history of clerks and a social history of consumers, Courteous Capitalism offers an intriguing new argument for why a major reform goal of Progressives faded and why Americans changed their minds regarding corporate monopolies.

ISBN-13: 9781421447346

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Publication Date: 11-28-2023

Pages: 336

Product Dimensions: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.88d

Series: Hagley Library Studies in Business - Technology - and Politics

Daniel Robert (EVANSTON, IL) is a historian of American history, business history, and the history of science and technology.