The disparity between the results of the industrial revolution and the conscious intentions of those engaged in it is a remarkable case of the extent to which indirect consequences of conjoint activity outweigh, beyond the possibility of reckoning, the results directly contemplated.
Dewey reflects on the unexpected consequences of the industrial revolution compared to the intentions behind it.
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There is therefore no necessary connection between the private character of an act and its non-social or anti-social character.
It rules but it does not regulate; for its rule is confined to receipt of tribute and ceremonial deference.
What is significant is that access to means of amusement has been rendered easy and cheap beyond anything known in the past.
Freedom presented itself as an end in itself, though it signified in fact liberation from oppression and tradition.