Ed,

I would love to read your dissertation, but was discouraged by the $41.25 fee 
the UMI site demanded for the privilege.

There is a poignant passage in this 1902 novel that perfectly exemplifies your 
conclusion that eating chicken was a decided status symbol for late-19th 
century Americans (and particularly the city dwellers), see:

http://books.google.com:80/books?id=tbDNqEf1obAC&pg=PA60&dq=%
22eating+chicken%22&as_brr=1

~ Bob Skiles