Who was Virginia Penny?

Virginia Penny was a 19th-century American economist and social reformer who played a substantial role in the suffrage movement. In this text, she compares women’s employment in the watchmaking industry in Europe (Switzerland and Britain) with that in the United States. - Nikolai Kotkov

She's a women and labor union activist who wrote books encouraging working women. She was also an important economist. – Oliver M.

Penny was a women in America that fought for women's rights especially in employment and fought for economic independence and equal pay. - Will C

Virginia Penny was a woman who fought for equality. She was a very early player in the women's suffrage movement. She focused a lot on economics and labor. I was very surprised to see just how much less women were paid for basically the same job. And the reasons they had for doing so were also quite something. - Justin Hoskins

Virginia Penny was an economist who in this article is pointing out the differences between how men and women in the United States and England are treated differently in the watchmaking industry, discussing how women are restricted to certain jobs and make half as much money as the men in the same industry do. - Grayson Donohoe

Virginia Penny (1826-1913) was an American social reformer, economist, and women's rights advocate. She is best known for her groundbreaking book The Employments of Women (1863), which cataloged over 500 occupations available to women and analyzed wages, working conditions, and social barriers. Through her work, Penny became a pioneer in advocating for women's economic independence and broader opportunities in the workforce. —Caitlyn Edwards

Virginia Penny was a social reformer and economist, studying labor markets in both Europe and the US. She advocated for women's suffrage and employment opportunities for women. In this article Penny discussed research she did on the watchmaking industry, noting that the process was entirely mechanized in the US. The system heavily relied on women, but corporations still paid women significantly less than men. - Hannah Holstrom

Virginia Penny through the lenses of economists viewed the behavior of the employment of women. She was a women's rights activist and more broadly an American social reformer looking at disparities in payment between males and females. She also looked at the occupational opportunities available to women and wrote books on these setbacks. —James Clayberg

An important economist and women's rights activist, who used her writings to promote equal pay for women. - Ava B

Virginia Penny was an advocate for women workers. She focused her research on gender inequality in the workforce by discussing things such as the working conditions and wages. - Izzy Ellenberger

Michael Adas’s central argument is that the development of technologies, such as steam power, railroads, firearms, and shipbuilding, contributed to the formation and consolidation of the ideology of European superiority. He argues that technological progress, together with notions such as rigid linear time, discipline, and mastery over nature, became the primary criteria by which Europeans evaluated other cultures through a series of binary oppositions (barbarism/civilization, male/female, nature/culture). - Nikolai Kotkov

He argues that because of the rapid development of technology, Europeans saw themselves as superior over other parts of the World. They saw themselves as “more civilized” because of the technology that they were using and creating. This superiority complex allowed for colonial and expansionist ideology to come to the forefront of EU society. – Oliver M.

Adas is arguing that the advancements in technology made by Europeans contributes to their feeling of being superior to other countries. Having the ability to engineer things like steam power and railroads shows, in their eyes, that they are better than other nations. - Grayson Donohoe

Throughout the piece, Adas argues that technological advancements made by “Industrialized Nations,” gave Europeans a sense of superiority over other, less developed nations that were made up of cultures and customs that differed from European sensibilities. - Izabella Martinez

He argues that the the technological advancements in Europe was equated to the value and progress of a society. Since Europe was progressing so rapidly with inventions like the steam engine and railroads, coupled with their widespread use, created a sense that European civilization was superior. Countries not as quickly or as well devolped were seen as lesser than. This in turn created a narrative, one that was deeply rooted in colonialism, that recent inventions like the steam engine were symbols of power. - Ava B

Michael Adas argues that by Europeans having the ability to build technologies such as railroads, weapons, different machines, etc. that it proved that they were more superior and therefore more civilized. - Izzy Ellenberger

The author primarily draws on information from travelogues written by explorers/missionaries/travelers, literary figures such as Kipling, historians like Henry Buckle, colonial theorists such as Le Bon, and other accounts that provide evidence to support his thesis. - Nikolai Kotkov

One example of where we can see this perspective is from the excerpt from Mary Kingsley. She talks about how when she visited Africa and came back home, it was the fact that she had railroads as to why she felt grateful to be English. - Grayson Donohoe

The author draws on the standard of civility set by Europeans:“…measurements of cranial capacity, estimates of railway mileage, and the capacity for work, discipline, and marking time became the decisive criteria by which Europeans judged other cultures and celebrated the superiority of their own.” - Izabella Martinez

He draws information from Mary Kingsley, a British writer who also traveled to Africa, where she provides her thoughts toward machinery and on how she believes in the British superiority, she says, ““…the thing that makes me proud of being one of the English… is the thing embodied in a great railway engine.” and“…that is just how I feel about the first magnificent bit of machinery I come across; it is the manifestation of the superiority of my race”. - Izzy Ellenberger

I found it interesting that Taylor described the shop as being “run by the workers, and not by the bosses.” It makes me wonder what the bosses were there for in that case. Furthermore, it's fascinating how “no activity was too small or insignificant to be systematically studied,” because it asserts the workplace as a social location. Anthropology was a relatively new discipline at the time, but it would have been interesting to see a formal ethnography of a Taylorist workplace. — Philip

In this text, Taylor outlines the general principles of the new labor system that would work based on scientific methods, which include classification, observation, data analysis, and so on. He argues that the old system of management was mostly ineffective because of systematic soldiering, i.e., a particular type of worker behavior centered on slowing down the working process. Taylor proposes that instead of adhering to this system, a special type of agreement should be organized between workers and managers, where the latter would gather all information about the working process and then provide clear, step-by-step instructions for the workers to perform their duties with diligence and attention. - Nikolai Kotkov

Taylor argued that factories were run inefficiently by workers, so he proposed that managers use the scientific method to study tasks and then give workers clear, step-by-step instructions for greater efficiency. - Oliver M.

In this document, Taylor is pointing out how inefficient the work management system has been in the United States thus far in American history. He argues that management is a science and by following those steps the system can become more efficient. - Grayson Donohoe

Taylor mentions step by step instructions for the work force is most beneficially when coming to efficiency. With the help of the scientific method and some accountability, instead of workers hindering the production of whatever, they will be more inclined to work harder and quicker. And even goes as far to say that no behavior of an employee is to small to not be able to measure. –James Clayberg

It focused a lot on the need for improving the efficiency in the workplace. They saw that the productivity was down because of inefficient work and poor management. - Izzy Ellenberger

Christine Frederick presents an interesting case of applying Taylor-like principles of scientific management to household work. She argued that employing scientific methods, understood as task efficiency and regularity, could help middle-class women manage the burdens of domestic labor. In my opinion,one of the most interesting parts of her recommendations was an instruction on how to keep children on the right schedule. - Nikolai Kotkov

I found this reading off-putting from a gender studies perspective, since Frederick’s insistence that housewives are offered free advice and that home drudgery is only because the women who complain of it “refuse to accept the efficient methods and improved equipment offered” to them reads similarly to victim-blaming to me. The idea of running homes like a factory feels very capitalistic, and it reminds me of the idea that children are being raised to become machines in the system of capitalism rather than their own person. - Noah Rutkowski

Again the emphasis on efficiency takes over new arenas. It is one thing to understand efficiency in the factory, but now being applied to the household, how does a women make the house run effectively. Never really thought of domestic labor like that, even as far as the point of making the kids behave and behave quickly. –James Clayberg

The idea of using scientific, rigid schedules to children and household chores is laughable given just… the very nature of children and the household. It's chaotic by nature. The vibe of this reading is also strange, and seems very heartless. Just because it would be more “effective” for everyone to be mechanical about their work doesn't mean it's good. – Oliver M.

Frederick is making an argument that asserts that middle class women are struggling to keep up with efficient housekeeping. She explains and gives examples of services that can help women become more efficient in the housekeeping chores. It’s interesting to see how this push for efficiency that we’ve talked about when applied to factories also starts applying to the home. - Grayson Donohoe

This is a very interesting take on housekeeping and child rearing, one I admittedly don't empathize with based on my current understanding of how unstructured it is. However, this is a reminder that not every woman was gung ho about the change in gender roles and the push towards feminism. Many were content to stay in the home and based on the reading run it like a barracks. - Ava B

I never thought of the principles as being something that would be used as an at home standard. I thought it was pretty interesting, though it makes sense because without some sense of order it can easily become chaos, that they would use the principles to make household tasks more efficient through something such as planning/scheduling. - Izzy Ellenberger

James O’Connell argued against the application of Taylor’s methods of scientific management on the grounds that it would lead to dehumanization (“making an automaton”) and a disregard for workers’ lives through the imposition of long hours, low wages, and the absence of organized labor unions. - Nikolai Kotkov

O’Connell is making the argument that by instituting the scientific management system like the one Taylor is proposing would significantly impact the workers in a negative way. By cracking down on unions, workers don’t have a way to advocate for safe working conditions and better wages, resulting in a resistant workforce. - Grayson Donohoe

O’Connell viewed Taylor’s principles as a threat toward skilled labor as it took out any judgment from the worker. They were to instead follow a card telling them what to do step by step. O’Connell also criticizes the unfair and low wages. And how there were unjust punishments for not meeting a daily quota. - Izzy Ellenberger

This petition is particularly interesting because it partly echoes the potential problems predicted by J. O’Connell and, at the same time, engages with the broader discourse on the vulnerability of the worker’s body from the previous seminar’s texts. One of its arguments is that Taylor’s system exhausts people by unnecessarily speeding up the process, resembling “the slave driver.” - Nikolai Kotkov

Taylorism set strict times on workers using a stop watch to time and make sure that the workers were completing task on time set by management. This was deeply disliked because it was degrading and thought it as being undermined and losing their skills. Workers went on strike to get rid of this as no one seem to like this system. - Will C

This document shows an example of what O’Connell was discussing in the previous meeting. Being put on a stop watch in order to make workers work faster and more “efficiently” is pushing them beyond what they are capable of and, as they’re saying, is not a sustainable and safe practice. - Grayson Donohoe

What this goal of efficiency doesn't fully plan for or planed for in this time period is the over working or exhaustion from the workforce. When people not doing the tasks (management) are now in timely control of the people doing the tasks (work force) and that work force now finds the timely management unreasonable, it is inevitable strikes were coming. –James Clayberg

The document covers the workers striking because of the harsh and unfair working conditions. The workers expressed that there were more accidents because of Taylor’s principles and being so rushed for time to meet their daily quota. They expressed that they system caused distrust within a worker to management relationship by being put in an unfair and unsafe work environment. - Izzy Ellenberger

It is an interesting application of Taylor’s principles, which were intended to increase efficiency by removing certain obstacles. In this case, these include reducing extra distance between the tools and providing additional training on how to use them. - Nikolai Kotkov

The instructions in the textbook are an example of how cutting the amount of time or movement it takes someone to do a part of the process is increasing the amount of productivity which is what Taylor is advocating for in scientific management. - Grayson Donohoe

In this story, Henry Mitchell offers an implied criticism of Taylorist scientific management through the figure of “efficiency man” Brown, who attempted to speed up the process but ultimately failed. Mitchell seems to attribute this failure to the disregard of the workers’ own expertise. - Nikolai Kotkov

Mitchell criticizes Taylorism by providing a story of how the efficiency man, Brown, at the Old Town Canoe Company did much more harm than good by challenging the knowledge of the workers. Brown’s emphasis on quantity over quality ended up creating far worse products, many of which were returned because of how poorly made they were. I found this document to be a very good account of how Taylorism’s extreme prioritization of efficiency can fail. - Noah Rutkowski

The story told in this document supports the arguments that others are saying in terms of Taylor’s model of management is unsustainable or impractical for real workers. - Grayson Donohoe

Again it feels like the same tail from earlier and Taylorists. Pushing the worker to his or her limits to be more productive might start off well but only leads to head aches later. Brown failed at to what Mitchell believes to be a disregard for a workers expertise. –James Clayberg

This story was very entertaining to read, but also sad. The manager didn't see the value in the Native's experience and used them as a form of entertainment for customers. Sam Gray saw them as fitting an image of what the company should be and even had a picture of a Native American on the catalog, but brought in Brown to be the efficiency man, challenging their knowledge. - Hannah Holstrom

Here it shows the negative results on trying to focus on efficiency without fully understanding the nature of the craft. - Izzy Ellenberger

This text presents a humorous fictional account of a worker named “Highpockets,” who embodied Taylor’s principles by working with every part of his body and seemingly never resting. The irony of such a system, however, is that no matter what one does or how hard one tries, the effort is never deemed sufficient. - Nikolai Kotkov

This story displays what Mitchell, O’Connell, and the workers in the Watertown petition were talking about when it comes to scientific management overworking employees. We see this character of the Highpocket using every limb on his body to work and being praised for it. - Grayson Donohoe

“He's always trying to figger a way to get some work out you at the same pay.” A tall tale indeed, and while its satirical it's a display of the exploitative behavior of factories and companies. Who are portrayed in this reading as greedy people who want a superhuman who will do anything for a small fixed rate. - Ava B

This shows an expression of the “ideal worker” that was expected through Taylorism. It uses Highpockets as the example showing how every part of him became a machine and how it sacrificed everything just for the sake of productivity. - Izzy Ellenberger

Frank T. Carlton discusses various possibilities for applying the principles of scientific management without reducing the worker to a state of “frenzied production” or depriving him of recreation. - Nikolai Kotkov

Professor Carlton makes a great and critical observation that in order to see the benefits in terms of increased productivity and efficiency the workers have to be on board. From the previous documents we’ve read so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It will be interesting to see how this evolves or changes later on in the readings. - Grayson Donohoe

Carlton argues that the aim for productivity and efficiency shouldn’t come at the cost of others safety and or treating people as machinery. He advocates for a more human conscious approach to the industry. - Izzy Ellenberger