Final answer:
Workers in Lowell Textile Mills experienced a paternalistic regime, living in company-provided boarding houses and engaging in company-organized activities, a contrast to the harsher conditions in European mills. However, labor conditions degraded over time, leading to labor strikes and growing worker discontent with the increasing gap between owners and workers and the rise of deskilled labor.
Step-by-step explanation:
The treatment of workers in the Lowell Textile Mills was distinguished by a paternalistic approach, which was somewhat different from European counterparts during the same era. In Lowell's vision, young women, referred to as Lowell mill girls, would work temporarily to earn a dowry before returning to rural lives. Despite the fact they worked 80 hours a week in strenuous conditions and lived in cramped boarding houses, Lowell provided them with 'wholesome' activities and chaperons to protect their reputation, something not commonly observed in European mills. These women eventually faced competition from Irish immigrants willing to work for lower wages.
By the 1920s, conditions worsened as workers faced more machines to tend, faster speeds, reduced wages, and piecework pay systems. Some Southern mills were paying less than half the national average wage. These practices, amongst widespread exploitation during industrialization, led to increased labor strikes and the questioning of industrial order fairness by the workers.
Industrialists like Robert Owen made attempts to improve conditions, and workers began to see the value in their work and joined labor movements, but the struggle continued with the rise of deskilled labor and competition from immigrants leading to job insecurity and further impoverishment of native workers. This context underscores the broader cultural and economic gap that was forming between the rural and industrial areas in America during the 19th century.