Transcript 16:2 The Affluent Society - Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD

16:2 The Affluent Society
• Between 1940 and 1955 average income of
American family tripled
• “Economy of Abundance”
– Economist John Kenneth Galbraith
• All societies before had “economy of scarcity”
– Economic prosperity limited due to:
» Lack of resources
» Over-population
16:2 Growth of Suburbia
• Mass-produced suburbs around cities in 1950s
– Levittown, N.Y. one of first
• Reasons for growth:
– Escape crime and congestion of city
– Better life for family
– Suburbs = “The American Dream”
16:2 The Baby Boom
• 1945-1961
– More than 65 million babies born in U.S.
• At height, child born every 7 seconds
– Reasons:
• Men and women put off marriage until after wars
• GI bill made purchasing a home easier
• T.V. and magazines celebrated pregnancy, parenthood,
and large families
16:2 The Changing Workplace
• More Americans working in offices
– “white collar jobs”
• Franchise
– A person owns and runs several stores of a chain
operation
• Critics of the change
– “The Lonely Crowd”, David Reisman (1950)
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Before: people were inner-directed
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Value came from family approval and sense of self
Now: other-directed
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Value comes from approval of company and community
16:2 Advances in Electronics
• The resistor decreased the size of radios
16:2 Advances in Electronics
• Dawn of the computer age
– U.S. military develops world’s first computer (1946)
• Jet airlines
– Development of plastics and light metals
16:2 Medical Miracles
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Radiation and chemotherapy treatment for cancer
CPR to resuscitate the heart
Pacemakers
Antibiotics greatly decreased death from tuberculosis
Vaccine developed for polio
– Jonas Salk
16:2 Rise of Television
• Comedy
– “I Love Lucy”
• Action
– “Lone Ranger”, “Gunsmoke” (Western)
– “Dragnet” (police drama)
• Sports on TV become very popular
16:2 Hollywood Responds
• Weekly movie attendance
– 1946: 82 million
– 1950: 36 million
• Hollywood tries to lure people back
– 3-D movies
– Cinemascope
• Large, panoramic screens
16:2 Radio Changes
• T.V. and movies make radio shows obsolete
– Radios turn their focus to
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Weather
Music
News
sports
Talk shows
– Radio’s big advantage over T.V. and Hollywood:
• Radios begin to appear in cars
16:2 Rock ‘n Roll
• Alan Freed, radio DJ in Cleveland
– Convinced station to play music on air
– Noticed White teens dancing to African-American
music in record stores
– White artists influenced by African-American
music = rock ‘n roll
– “Generation gap”
• Cultural separation between parents and their children
– First rock star: Elvis Presley
16:2 The Beat Movement
• “Beatniks”
– Poets, writers, artists
• Harshly criticized
– conformity of American life
– Meaninglessness of American politics
– Emptiness of pop culture
• Provided foundation for Sixties rebellions
• Jack Kerouac
– “On the Road” (1957)