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16.2 The Affluent Society. I. American Abundance. The 1950s was a decade of prosperity In his book, The Affluent Society , John Kenneth Galbraith said the U.S. had created an “economy of abundance.”.
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I. American Abundance • The 1950s was a decade of prosperity • In his book, The Affluent Society, John Kenneth Galbraith said the U.S. had created an “economy of abundance.” Average annual income for factory workers went from $3,302 in 1950 to $5,352 in 1960, which is an increase of 62%!
II. The Growth of Suburbia • Why move to the suburbs? 1. Escape crime & congestion of city life 2. Better life for families & kids 3. Flee from minorities 4. Affordable Buying a “cookie-cutter” house in the suburbs cost $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.
II. The Growth of Suburbia… • Levittown, NY was one of the earliest mass-produced suburbs 1. Bill Levitt mass-produced simple, similar-looking, affordable homes 2. “Levittowns” became popular & appeared throughout the country 3. Criticized for their conformity
II. The Growth of Suburbia… • Following WWII, the rapid increase in births became known as the baby boom It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant. -- British visitor to America, 1958 •1957 1 baby born every 7 seconds!
II. The Growth of Suburbia… 1. Led to a more “child-centered” society, with increase in after school programs, kids tv programs, & toys 2. Popular culture celebrated parenthood & large families Mickey Mouse Club Howdy Doody Show Lassie
II. The Growth of Suburbia… • The ongoing mechanization of farms & factories meant more Americans were working in offices 1. For the first time, white-collar workers outnumbered blue-collar workers 2. Many businesses became multinational corporations & relocated overseas closer to raw materials & cheap labor 3. 1950s saw the growth of franchises
II. The Growth of Suburbia… E. Many new scientific advances in electronics, manufacturing, & medicine Scientists working for the U.S. Army developed one of the nation’s earliest computers, known as ENIAC – Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer. It’s purpose was to make military calculations.
III. The New Mass Media • By the late 1950s, most households had a tv 1. There were variety shows, quiz shows, police shows, comedies, westerns, sports, news, etc. Households with Televisions
III. The New Mass Media… • Hollywood struggled as movie attendance dropped • Radio stations had to change their programming & focused more on music, news, sports, & talk shows 1. The car saved the radio industry
IV. New Music & Poetry • The 1950s saw the rise of the independent teenage culture. Why? 1. Teens had large amounts of disposable income that they spent on entertainment 2. The new mass media meant teens across the country could hear the same music & watch the same tv shows
IV. New Music & Poetry… • White teens were listening to African American rhythm & blues records 1. Cleveland DJ Alan Freed named this new music “rock ‘n’ roll” 2. Elvis Presley made it “permissible” for white Americans to listen to “black” music 3. Rock ‘n’ roll united teens in a world their parents didn’t share, thus creating a generation gap
IV. New Music & Poetry… • Beatniks were poets, writers, & artists who criticized the conformity of everyday life & laid the foundations for the cultural rebellion of the 1960s 1. Examples include poet Allen Ginsberg & novelist Jack Kerouac “Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.” – Allen Ginsberg “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” – Jack Kerouac
