Transcript 1950s Economic and Social Themes

1950s Economic and
Social Themes
People of Plenty and
Conformity
-GDP Doubles
GDP = consumption + gross investment
+ government spending + (exports − imports)
GI Bill
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Went to veterans of WWII
1) College scholarships
2) Loans for Houses
3) Unemployment Pay
Gave Opportunities to the average bluecollar soldier after the war.
d
Economics of 1950s
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1950s=Cash Money
 Victorious in WWII. Now control trade. Only
Super Power to NOT have their country torn to
shreds from WWII
 Causes of Economic Boom
1) New Business Techniques-white collar jobs
2) Improved Technology
Effects
1) Consumerism
2) Growth of Suburbs (Levittowns)
Baby Boomers (1945-1961)
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Couples start having children after WWII
Couples could now afford a family, house,
life, etc.
Conform to society (don’t draw attention to
yourself)
-Marriage, Pregnancy, parenthood, large
families
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bpra9OEw6nQ
Consumer Culture
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Television-brought people together
-1946=7,000-media is building
1960=50 million
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-by 1970, 9 out of every 10 homes had one
 -projected new image of America
 -helped fight communism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IPpDSpiCBEU
Rock ‘N Roll…daddy-o
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Helped foster differences between parents
and teenagers (youth culture)
Loud, rhythmic, promoted movement
(freedom), full of energy
Adults didn't get it and even FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover called the new music "a
corrupting influence"
Automobile
Sales increased 300% during the 1950’s
 The public desired speed, luxury, travel,
freedom, and privacy in a car
 Promoted creation of drive-ins, diners
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Dates and promiscuous behavior
Poor gas mileage
 Chrome everything!
 Detroit’s “Golden Age”
Riddle
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What’s College?
Answer
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“That’s where girls who are above cooking
and sewing go to meet a man they can
spend their lives cooking and sewing for.
-ad for Gimbals’ department store campus
clothes, 1952.
Conform, or be scorned
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Middle Class, White values
Normalcy
Fears of standing out (communism)
Women return to the home (uniformity)
Health Class in 1954….
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http://libguides.wsulibs.wsu.edu/content.ph
p?pid=109047&sid=820606
This quote is in your book and you don’t have to
write this down. Just listen to Mr. Werner and
everything will be fine.
John Keats
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“You too can find a box [house] of your
own,” wrote Keats, “inhabited by people
whose age, income, number of children,
problems, habits, conversations, dress,
possessions, perhaps even blood types
are almost precisely like yours.”
Generation Gap
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Marked differences between teenagers and
parents began to emerge
Beat generation
Ducktail haircuts
Television portrayed “juvenile delinquents”
Marlon Brando- The Wild One
James Dean- Rebel Without a Cause
J.D. Salinger- The Catcher in the Rye