ABSTRACT
One of the major consequences of the ongoing processes of urbanization, industrialization and modernization was to challenge the efficacy of individual initiative. The major problems such as unemployment which came in the wake of rapid socio-economic change seemed too overwhelming to be resolved through isolated personal effort. The notion that collective action could bring more order, more direction and regulation to bear on the confusion of economic life was widespread. One of the most effective and rapidly proliferating mechanisms for the dissemination of collective pressure between 1873 and 1913 was the interest group. Using the unemployment issue to attack their avowed enemy—socialism—industrialists during the late 1870's supported Bismarck's contention that left-wing agitators had caused unemployment by undermining business confidence. Economically disenfranchised workers failed to evolve creative channels for circumventing a system which remained unresponsive to their needs. Demography was a major factor in determining the extent of unemployment.
