Affluence and Conformity Flashcards
Expansion of the suburbs
(mortgages)
Growth greatly accelerated after the mid-40s, when 11/13 homes built 1948-1958 were in the suburbs.
By 1960, 33% of Americans were suburbanites, mostly middle-class whites - garage, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, lawn
Post-war housing shortage and easily available mortgages encouraged builders to construct more homes - The Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration offered mortgages of up to 90% of the value and up to 30 years to pay them off at a low interest rate
1955 - the FHA and the VA provided 41% of all new mortgages, which helped the rising percentage of owner-occupied homes (61.9% in 1960).
Increased car ownership and federal highway construction made it easy for people to get to work.
Levittowns
1st in 1947 - 17,000 homes
For young veterans but rules - weekly lawn mowing, no fences and no washing out at weekends.
Spacious homes, modern bathrooms, gadget-filled kitchens and attached garages.
Racially exclusive - rocks thrown at a black American family in 1957 Pennsylvania Levittown and the state authorities had to intervene. Took till 1960 when sold to a black family in New Jersey
William Levitt defended as if they were sold to black people white people would not want to live there
The changing nature of cities
(reasoning)
White flight and black American Great Migration north to cities like Chicago, with many black people in ghettos - personal choice but also white racism with high rents and poor living standards.
Whites contributed to the growth of urban ghettos:
Used restrictive rules to exclude black Americans from white neighborhoods, even though SCOTUS declared it legally unenforceable in 1948.
North, Midwest and West, whites who could afford fled. E.g. whites fled Oakland, California, for suburbs and once there unwilling to pay increased taxes to assist inner-city areas.
When pressure desegregation grew during 1955-63, Southern whites fled to the suburbs. For example, Atlanta, Georgia was experiencing large- scale white flight by the mid-1960s.
The Changing Nature of Cities - Federal Government and Ghettos
When the FHA distributed billions of dollars of low- cost mortgages from the late 40s, it excluded applicants considered ‘risks’ (black Americans or Jews) due to income or likely to receive hostile reactions.
Congress authorised the construction of 810,000 subsidised public housing units and purchased slum areas for redevelopment in 1949. However, black communities were removed. For example, in Chicago they manipulated local laws and used federal funds for urban renewal to tear down black neighbourhoods and replace them with commercial or more expensive housing
Federal gov’s attempt to alleviate the black housing shortage was ineffective. Only 325,203 federal housing units were built 1945-65 and many of them failed (Pruitt-Igoe project in St Louis)
The growth in car ownership
Great Depression 1930s and WW2 limited car ownership
1955 weren’t cheap - working, middle class had Fords or Chevrolets - cost 2/5 of the average family income - symbol of status with powered steering, radio and, air con
Post-war boom, better job security and more money, car ownership 1950 39.3 million and in 1960 it was 73.8 million
Eisenhower initiated highway construction - helped convenience and living standards and was vital to handle traffic
Congress authorised 41,000 interstate highways that opened up the continent to travel altering society and culture
The impact of highway development and car ownership
Social and ethnic status - wealthy white men favoured expensive and spacious like Lincolns. Cleaning the car reflected the increase in disposable income and leisure time in the 50s
Young people - gain independence and escape parents. 1953 Kinsey survey found that young people had almost as much sex in cars as they did at home. Young men expressed individuality by customising
Women - freedom - reflected traditional attitudes e.g. 1955 Dodge La Femme came with matching lipstick and bag - but the family car could be a source of conflict as men tried to monopolies the driving seat
Culture - 1952 motel chains with the first Holiday Inn. By 1960 228 McDonald’s. Roadside motels and restaurants created tens of thousands of jobs and changed the landscape - rural America was commercialised
White collar jobs and the service industries
White collar workers rose by 6 million 1950-60
New technology meant America was less dependent in the 50s as increased automation decreased the proportion of industrial workers from 39% to 36% of the workforce by 1960 resulting in economically depressed areas in the old industrial heartlands of the Midwest and North east
By 1960 34.8 million service workers outnumbered the 25.6 million manual workers.
Consumerism
Teen Consumer
1959 - Life (Magazine) - teen consumers became a major factor in the nation’s economy.
Owned 10 million record players, spent $20 million on lipstick and over $1.5 billion on entertainment in 1958.
Propped up the ice-cream industry, with 145 million gallons per year.
Growing number of teenage marriages (1/3 of 18- and 19-year-old girls) meant teen wives were big spenders on items like furniture.
Growth of domestic technology
1960 - average family income gave 30% more purchasing power than 1950. Bought cars, labour-saving devices improving the lives of housewives and things considered essential or fashionable.
Essential part of the ‘American Dream’.
The mass media spread this message, in ads, celebrity profiles and television shows.
Some hated the impact on American society fearing consumerism and excessive materialism were becoming central to the nation’s identity and undermining ‘traditional American values’ like hard work and money management.
Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society (1958) argued Americans were grossly materialistic and cared little about the less fortunate
Social conformity 1955-1961
Father Knows Best 1954-63 - Jim Anderson exuded traditional American family values which endeared fans. Featured on CBS, MBC and ABC with 203 episodes.
Religion - organised religion promoted a positive feeling about conforming to morals and the stereotypes of society. Also, in 1956 the gov added ‘in god we trust’ on coins. Churches preached a culture of conformity adhering to traditional values and denouncing Communist ideas leading to mass revival of religion in America.
Advertising - idealised the conformist lifestyle. Lauded family values and promoted the achievement of ultimate success of gender stereotypes. Achieved through purchasing particular brands. Ads played off of jealousy and offered the prize of self-gratification. Research showed that Marlboro filter cigarettes were consider effeminate until ads associated it with the wild west resulting in sales skyrocketing.
Suburbia - men who returned from WW2 immediately replaced the woman at work. Started to form new communities achieved through Bridge Clubs and garden clubs and joining churches.
Film and TV - Played a role in mass obedience glorifying family life. There was a string of biblical and western adventures which represented the idealised society targeted at the middle-class. This films were bland, safe and suitable for everyone which was the aim as wanted mass appeal. However it led to Saturday Evening Post a newspaper ceasing publication in 1963 as people stopped reading as often
Elizabeth Taylor - one of the most popular in Hollywood in the 1950s. Majority of her films were romances or comedy which adhered such as Cleopatra in 1963. However, she was divorced 6 time. One of her movies, A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, included LGBTQ+ with the hero being gay in 1958
Social challenge/rebellion 1955-61
Rock ‘n’ Roll - Coined by Alan Free in 1951. It was a way to make Black and Hispanic rhythm and Blues more acceptable in white households inspiring a culture of rebellion for white teens who wanted to find their own cultural identity in a society of conformity. Elvis Presley. With temporary jobs especially in fast food outlets and frequently generous allowances from parents teenagers had money to spend on records. $182 million in 1954 rising to $521 million in 1960
Beatnik culture - Desired self-liberation and to discard conformity of the monotomous suburban life. They strove ot live their lives in pure freedom and rebelled against the mundanity through Jazz and Rock, unconventional arts and poetry, drugs, alchol and sex.
Film and TV - experimentally violent and rebellious films. Rebel Without a Cause 1955 featured knife fighitng and street racing. Rock around the Clock introduced it to parents and reassured them of relative saftey but they mainy saw it as a dangerous phenonmeon.
Juvenile delinquency - the ease of mobility allowed a rise as it enabled teens to move freely escaping the watchful eye of their parents and allowed drinking and sex and petting.
Jack Kerouac - an american novelist and poet acting as a pinoeer for the Beatnik generation. E.g. The Dharma Bums (1958) -Buddhism
Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws were laws in the South based on race from 1880
Enforced segregation between white and black people in public places eg. schools
They made it difficult for black people to vote.
Brown Vs the Board of Education
1954 - massive success
Turning point as it, inspired other to take action
The NAACP fought a hard case, trying to prove that “separate but equal” was a lie.
Southerners assumed if school kids were desegregated they’d get to know each other and marry
Decided unanimously that “separate but equal” has no place in the Constitution
Outlawed racial segregation in all public schools across the US
Montgomery bus boycotts
1955- 56 - partial success as only on buses
Had been attempts nationally but the south had problems. 2 women, prior to Parks, had tried to sit on the “white area” and were arrested. Parks was a model American but the wrong race. Originally managed by the NAACP but the SCLC got involved and MLK
40% of the population in Montgomery were black- 90% refused to use the bus meaning the bus companies lost 80% revenue. Instead formed a private taxi service to give Black peoples lifts- 89 drivers arrested for minor offences
The KKK wasn’t happy with the Sup C ruling (bus segregation become unconstitutional 1956) leading to attacks on the buses and black people’s houses
Little rock
1957 - partial success
Enroll 9 black students but led to a riot. They wanted to go through with it to show that the African American community wanted change
Required the National Guard by the governor and Eisenhower sent in troops of the 101st Airborne Division to restore peace and accompany the students to and from school for a whole year - 1st time a president had intervened in CRM
Ernest Green became the 1st black person to graduate in 1958
Arkansas schools became fully integrated - 1972
