Designing for the Life Span Segment 2
Designing for the Life Span Segment 2 
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In 1900, America began its' shift away from an agrarian society to an industrial society. At the turn of the last century, 85% of the population lived on family farms- living at a subsistence level. By 1970, that percentage was 3%, and by 1995 it was 2%. Family farming, today, is a reflection of the past and life in the 19th. century. However, the lessons of the changes at the turn of the last century may be worth heeding as America moves into the next...
Older Americans became more dependent upon the new system of Social Security inaugurated in 1936 when... "(there developed a) decrease in the proportion of persons who were self employed as agriculture, the handicrafts and small trade gave way to large scale industrialism and (to) the increasing speed of industry which made it more difficult for old people to be re-employed once they had lost their jobs."
Paul H. Douglas, 1936.
writing about the increasing dependency on Social Security among older Americans.
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...There is a persistent myth about Americans and the changes they have experienced throughout the 20th century. That myth is that people adapted to a new order of things. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support the notion that those committed to agriculture made a transition into industrialization by learning new skills. As Paul H. Douglas states in this slide, Social Security became the "safety net" for those Americans essentially left behind by change. More recently, the closure of steel mills in Pennsylvania - operational for over 100 years - prompted the development of retraining programs. Follow-up research has shown that these program did little to foster change and adaptation to a new economy. Clearly, as America changes, significant numbers of its citizens are left behind and cannot manage transition in their own lives.
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