1. Effects of technology?

The increased efficiency of manufacturing increased dramatically during the early 20th century, largely in part because of the technological advancements made in methods of production. Increasing industrialization—the beginnings of which are present in this novel (i.e. Ford’s assembly line)—contribute directly and greatly to the rise in socialism, labor unions, labor laws, tension between immigrant and native populations, tension new and old immigrant populations, tension between immigrant and African-American populations, and increased classism.