By no means, Byz. All such things have existed for a very long time, probably forever. And of course they were fully present a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago, in this country as everywhere else. People simply gave themselves license not to notice them. Even Freud. We were particularly good in this country, I think, at denying reality. Read Wisconsin Death Trip if you haven't. Look at Lewis Hine's photos. Or those of Jacob Riis. Read (especially) Jack London's books about being a hobo in this country (The Road) or a poor person in London (The People of the Abyss) around 1902-1903.

And it goes on and on. Actually, you could even go back and look into Ambroise Pare's memoirs. He was a military surgeon in the early 16th century, very famous and highly skilled. Of course, he was only employed to take care of the wealthiest, most aristocratic war wounded. But his peripheral descriptions of what happened to the conscripted peasants give some idea of quite how valueless those of the lower classes were considered by the luckier ones. Really worth a look. Take care.