Lewis Hine's Progressive reform photography and the construction of gender, 1904-1932

Examining the historical relevance of the Progressive movement and Hine's connection to their ideologies, my work explores many differing influences that played a role in establishing a set of gender norms within the emerging context of American society from the early 1900s to the mid-1930s when Hine was most active. It further addresses ways in which society embraced deviations from previously prescribed norms. Using Hine's photography and written documents I address the gender conceptions in American society by exploring how class and social status dictate, influence, and help construct the continuing evolution of gender conventions. My thesis examines the ways American society attempted to created gender roles using the newly recognized scientific schools of thought such as physiology, and sociology. I examine the historical complexities of gender by addressing three specific areas: the establishment of childhood and the induction of children in their appropriate gender roles, female positional shift from dependency on men to the rising trend of self-dependency, and finally, the myriad changes in the conceptualization of maleness as foreign men came to the United States and as America redefined men through war and industry.