America - 1.4 Flashcards
1
Q
constant features of standard of living
A
- average life expectancy rose
- white people had a consistently higher life expectancy (1915 men had a LE of 48, non-white men it was 33 years)
- the wages are higher for white men as well (on average double in 1939). this reflects many were in higher earning jobs
- the monthly wages for farm workers are a reminder that the standard of living varied widely
- the average wage for a no-white person was about one quarter of the earnings of a white man)
2
Q
home ownership 1917-41
A
- 1920, about 6,700,000 people owned their now houses, 12,900,000
- the 1940 census listed about 19,600,000 renting homes and 15,200,000 home owners.
- the facilities in each house also improved
3
Q
sanitation 1940 census
A
- only about 2.6% of homes had no toilet of any kind while 59.7 had indoor flushing toilets
- not white people in rented housing in cities were most likely to have shared facilities
4
Q
electricity 1940 census
A
- 48.8% of homes cooked by gas and only 5.4% by electricity
- 42% of homes had central heating, 11.3% had no heating at all
- 44.1% of homes had an electric fridge
- 82.8% of people said they owned a radio
5
Q
did people spend more money in the 1920s?
A
- more anymore people shopped in chain stores rather than small local stores (by 1929 retail chains were selling 21.9% of all goods)
- some chains such as J.c.Penny spread to all states selling household goods and furnishing. this helped to create an American culture making people feel at home in any state
- by 1940 the standard of income had clearly increased as people only needed to spend 21% on food (in1930 this was 24%) (15% of this was spent on eating out which was more expensive)
- household market boomed in the 1920s and 30s. Roosevelt set up the rural electrification administration in 1935 to get electricity to rural areas (in 1939 ran over 100,00 miles of new power lines)
6
Q
health 1917-40
A
- death rates for fatal diseases such as smallpox and TB dropped steadily (rise in 1930s as people couldn’t afford to pay medical bills)
- gov invested more into providing free healthcare for those who couldn’t afford it. this made people more likely to go the doctor so health improved
- in 1917, over 3 million was spent on healthcare, by 1940 it was 32 million
7
Q
education 1917-40
A
in 1917 just 27% of all children ages 14-17 were going to school, by 1940 it was 73%
- this was before the baby boom so suggests that by 1940 many more children were being sent to school than sent out to work
- labour legislation in 1938 included stopping children under 14 woking in most non agricultural jobs. farming was often an exception as they worked while being registered for school
8
Q
what impact did the second world war have on a consumer society
A
- the war reduced consumer spending as industry shifted to war production
- it was patriotic to scrimp and save, to eat less bread so more wheat could be exported to the allies in Europe
- once the war ended industry returned rapidly to the production of peacetime goods as the post war economic boom led to a burst of consumerism
- there were an ever widening range of choices, in a range of styles and colours
- constantly updating goods made people buy them more frequently. advertised emphasised ‘new’ and ‘improved’ targeting specific groups of people. this was helped by the TV and sponsorship
- a new policy called built in absence meant machines were made less sturdy more quickly and so they would need replacing more often
9
Q
the impact of the TV on the consumer society
A
- to begin with they were very expensive, the screens were small and you could only get reception in New York area
- by 1960 85%, this was partly explain by more homes having electricity and reception
- in 1948 there were 16 broadcasting station, by 1954 there were 354.
- they brought entertainment into the home, meaning families went out less. staying in saved finding a babysitter and saved the journey to the movies
- because more people were staying in, pre-cooked dinners gained popularity . for example Betty Crocker’s cake mix which was quick, easy and produced reliable results
10
Q
the consumer as targets
A
- manufacturers became more specific with who they targeted
- the toy industry are rapidly, helped by developments in the plastic industry (plastic toys were cheaper than steel ones)
- products aimed at children were advertised around children’s programmes, targeting their pester power with their parents, not the parents themselves. in 1955 Davy Crockett (TV hero) outfits made $100 million from sales of just the racoon skin caps of their outfits
- women targeted for their pester power with labour saving devices and men for cars
- women were also targeted for domestic appliances, choosing the brand of milk, juice and coffee and therefore which grocery stores to visit
11
Q
post war consumerism
A
- after the war people ate and drank more, craving the foods they had been deprived of during the war (fat, sugar, meat)
- growth of synthetic food industry (artificial sweeteners) coconut cola made £55.7 million before tax in 1950 and this grew considerably by 1959
- people were eating far less healthily than before the war
- the 1950s saw the first big studies into the effects that food, drink and smoking had on health. by the early 1960s, there were reports about the health effects of smoking and too much cholesterol
- women were much more likely to feed their babies formula milk, especially the types that had vitamins in. this made it easier for working women to share the care of their babies. not even non-working women were encouraged to use formula because of the added vitamins and because it was easier to measure a baby’s intake
12
Q
teenage consumption
A
- significant consumers in the 1950s, in 1959 said to spend $10 billion a year
- transport was 38% most of which was car related. many started to trade in models every few years for upgraded designs. this created more second hand cars for the teenage market
- clothing and sports accounted for 24%. teenage girls consumed more clothing and cosmetics than the both (%20 million on lipstick alone) boys on sporting equipment
- food and drink accounted for 22%. they ate about 20% more than adults and when eating out they ate huge amounts of ice cream and drank lots of milk, boosting the dairy industry. they ate in new drive ins, producing cheap and fast foods
- 16% went to entertainment. they spent $75 million on records. from the 1950s moving makers started to target teen audiences with high school films and a range of cheap gores movies such as the blob in 1958
13
Q
teenagers and transistor radios
A
- made a huge impact due to their portability
- teenagers primarily wanted them to listen to pop music
- first TR-1 went for sale in 1954, it was expensive and wasn’t very small
- a Japanese company then miniaturised the transistor radio by using tubes and these miniature radios were far more popular
- in 1959 alone, the USA imported six million
14
Q
was standard of living in 1960 better than 1940?
A
- census measures changed
- they still measured home ownership but they also took into consideration the facilities within
- in 1960 about 63% of people owned their own homes compared to 44% in 1940
- 85% had a bath/shower and a flushing toilet
- electricity supplies were no longer recorded, (only 1.7% of homes had no heating all)
15
Q
problems faced by non-white Americans
A
- throughout the 1960s and 70s it was harder for non-white Americans to get a job and if they were they were automatically paid less
- affirmative action from Roosevelt onwards was slow coming and often caused resentment. people thought they were chosen for their race, not their abilities
- some non-white Americans did live in the suburbs (most significant were black American suburbs at just over 4%)
- hispanic groups were still moving largely into the cities.
- about 12% of white Americans and 41% of non-white Americans were living below the poverty line, many lived in the inner cities but also some areas of extreme rural poverty
16
Q
inner city housing
A
- much inner city housing was subdivided and rented. as rents fell, landlords failed to repair their properties and even burned them down to claim insurance or left them to rot (e.g. South side Chicago)
- most residents turned to crime, drugs or both as they felt angry and helpless towards their situation
- by the 1970s many were locked in a downwards spiral of decline (South Bronx in New York was in a hispanic ghetto and in the 1970s well over half of the families were on welfare)
- the number of deliberate fires increased in the 60s and 70s (most set by landlords to get federal building grants)
- housing commissioner, Roger Starr set out a policy of planned shrinkage, closing social amenity, leaving people even worse off. this was soon adopted in other cities
17
Q
federal government anti-poverty policies
A
- Kennedy outline his new frontier policies but these weren’t passed before he was shot
- Johnson introduced his great society policies to fight a ‘war on poverty’.
- set up an independent agency with over 130 staff and budget of over $960 million, the run the policies and report directly to him
- he stressed poverty was the enemy not poor people themselves
- congress didn’t pass all the bills that the Johnson administration presented, yet they were extended to cover more people (more wide ranging than the new deal)
- scale was immense, funding though significant was no enough
- community action programmes (CAPs) could make a big difference (often organised by women), collected data on the biggest local problems and presented projects to solve them
- one project in Memphis focused on high infant mortality and so set up free clinics that offered advice for before and after birth
- some projects failed as competition to gain funding led to racial tension and violence (blacks and hispanics in LA)
18
Q
criticisms of the great society
A
- programmes weren’t helping people out of poverty, they were encouraging them to stay on welfare
- particularly vindictive against non white single parents (seen a shaving babies for welfare) and black men (seen as deriving for behind inner city riots)
- tailored towards non-whites
19
Q
Nixon’s anti-poverty policies
A
- shifted the focus of federal aid to the working poor, old, children and disabled, all of whom received extra aid
- dismantled the Office of Economic Opportunity in his first year. this was a long progress as many were funded for several years. when this expired many couldn’t replenish their finds and so couldn’t be sustained
- did pass anti-poverty legislation, enlarging the food stamps programme and making federal gov administer it (more efficient)
- linked social security payments to inflation meaning the buying power of them stayed the same
- emphasised ‘workfare’ not ‘welfare’ granting credit linked to earnings in the year. this only helped those who could find work and this was difficult for many
- Nixon administration setup family planning advice and resources. this relief on people using the contraception that was provided
- rationalised welfare benefits by combing them.
- growing support for reduced welfare payments
20
Q
Jonnie Tillmon
A
- was a welfare campaigner in LA
- protested agains the stereotype of the single parent as a welfare scrounger
- gave evidence to congress about the problem of trying welfare to work when single parents were often seen as undesirable workers
- NWRO didn’t get the FAP overturned, it did get changes at state level (e.g. outlawing raising homes unpronounced)
21
Q
carter’s anti-poverty policies
A
- wanted to help both working and non-woking poor without raising budget costs
- in 1978, the national consumer cooperative bank was set up, to give loans to co-operative organisations, largely in urban areas
- lent money to small organisations who would struggle to fund start up businesses, helping the working poor to improve their position
- rural development fund was set up just before carter’s defeat in 1981, giving loans to rural communities to provide electrification and facilities. this only helped the working poor and the areas that received funding
- in last two years introduced tax cuts, trying to manipulate the money supply
- his measures might have worked but the public had lost faith in his policies and competence. he was also unpopular in congress
- this was exploited by Reagan who offered change at a time when people wanted it.
22
Q
to what extent was there no leisure time in the years 1917-40?
A
- tended to be the benefit if the middles classes.
- most people still worked long hours and had little disposable income
- during the Great Depression, the situation of many got worse as many people lost their homes and jobs
- many who lost their homes lived and travelled in their cars. most people went to the cities, as the growing number of Hoovervilles in the 1930s suggested.
23
Q
leisure industry 1917-45
A
- eating out became a popular leisure activity (e.g. illegal speakeasies)
- the amount of choice varied from place to place, based off town size but also location in America
- the cinema industry grow considerably. in 1930 Ny had hundred of cinemas ranging from 50-seaters in black areas to luxurious Roxy, built to hold over 5000 people
- other areas were less well off. out of all the towns n North Carolina, only 3 had more than once cinema
- in the south they were segregated. black people were only allowed to sit in the balcony seats
- the explosion of the movie theatre created an unemployment boom for workers in the movie industry, the building industries and the service industry
24
Q
leisure time outside
A
- booming car industry and improved road systems meant that people could get to national parks to hike and camp
- they wanted a back to nature experience
- a growing number of amusement parks competed to give children the most fun and the scariest roller coster ride.
- kiddie parks became increasingly popular (first built in San. Antonio, Texas providing gentle rides for small children and daring rides for older ones
- the radio industry and the book market grew rapidly, especially with the arrival of cheap paperbacks in the later 1920s. Book sales fell during the Great Depression however
25
Q
spectator sports
A
- sport coverage in the newspaper increased
- even before 1917, cigarette manufacturers were producing cigarette cards of famous baseball teams for fans to collect
- as popularity rose, the number of spectators did too, American football Rose Bowl stadium, built in 1923 for an audience of 57,000 had to be enlarged in 1928 to hold 76,000
- in the 1920s, Americans could watch professional baseball, horse racing, backing, basketball etc, certain sports like wrestling were seen as theatre sports
- radio broadcasts of baseball games increased popularity. it was organised into major and minor leagues
- yankees were most popular, star player being Babe ruth. attendance topped a million in 1920
26
Q
what impact did the radio have on spectator sports?
A
- radio coverage sold sport and sport sold radio
- a rematch of the allegedly rigged Jack Dempsey v Gene Tunney boxing match was broadcasted on the radio in 1927. in the weak before one New York department store sold $90,000 worth of radios
- in 1934 the baseball league sold broadcasting rights to Ford motor company. some teams (e.g. St Louis Basketball) began to refuse to allow local radio companies to broadcast their matches as it would prevent spectating (avoid price of ticket)
- ticked sales went after once radio stopped broadcasting (this could be for other reasons like improved standard of play)
27
Q
sports stars
A
- babe ruth (yankees baseball player) had his salary quadrupled between 1920-1930
- examples of how succession sport could change lives. (came from a low income background)
- significant number of sportsmen came from working class families (Gene Tunney, the boxer was the sun of an Irish immigrant dock worker)
- black Americans couldn’t play in white baseball leagues until the 1940s. there were segregated leagues (in 1920 Rube Foster set up the national negro baseball league which was the first professional league for black teams)
