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The 1950's enormously merit its notoriety for being a time of conformity. With the abhorrences of communism still new in the back of everybody’s head, Americans were anxious to come back to their normal lives and demonstrate that the American lifestyle was the most ideal approach to live. In spite of the fact that Civil Rights developments showed hostility towards conformity through objections of sit-ins and boycotts, the greater part of the white populace wound up plainly indistinguishable as the middle class grew, most people lived in the suburbs, and family life was noticeably average. The Red Scare, emitted in the mid 1920's, particularly panicked the American people by making them expect communism to creep into the US. Every sane person was against communism. The dread of Communism was cultivated by Senator Joseph McCarthy, and any abnormalities were associated with being influenced by communism. Cultural change was at a halt, unless something new was found to be connected to communism. Almost the only part of American culture that changed amid the 1950's was the appearance of rock and roll. In the 1950's, the battles for social equality were conveyed smoothly in the courts. In 1954, the Supreme Court discovered that isolation of schools in the south was unlawful. The real violence did not start until about a decade later. Numerous lawmakers needed to …show more content…
swear that they were not communists when they would take oaths, for instance, in Truman's faithfulness program. The quickly spreading apprehension of communism led to many people desiring conformity, so as not to attract undesirable attention towards oneself. This happened socially, as well as through legislative issues. President Eisenhower’s politics were named “Modern Republicanism.” He had confidence in moderate government spending and an adjusted spending plan, however he never wanted to end any New Deal programs. Rather than ending any New Deal programs, Eisenhower added to the nation’s minimum wage, and in addition utilized previous President Roosevelt's Federal Housing Administration to help fund the building and buying of rural, suburban homes, which in turn prompted social congruity/conformity. Eisenhower's deeds to perfect old policies were a political conformity in itself. Society was always encompassed with vacuous exercises that undoubtedly acknowledged the insanity of its culture. Congruity was required due to the U.S. association with World War II. The U.S. saw it necessary to be of one personality and keeping in mind the end goal to stage fights that truly secured the world. Amid WWII, we were allied with Russia. After WW II, Europe was partitioned between Russian interests and allied (principally U.S. also, U.K.) interests. This prompted an arms race between previous allies, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Social conformity additionally became an integral factor in the 1950s.
Materialism became prominent in American society. The working middle class was increasing out an extraordinary rate, spending more cash on consumer goods than ever before. In order to embody the consumer needs of this expanding population, America increased its scope by creating new automobiles, garments, computers, fast food restaurants, and an multiplicity of other consumer goods. Before the end of the 50's, almost everyone had a TV, which would demonstrate the "idealize rural life" – husband as provider, wife as
housewife. The fast development of the suburbs significantly changed American life. These suburbs relied on automobiles, supermarkets, and shopping centers, and took into account the nuclear family, not the extended family. The fast development of rural areas prompted expanded church participation. Religious inclination turned into the essential distinguishing feature of suburbia. Levittowns, which were rural groups with mass-delivered tract houses constructed in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan regions that were regularly occupied by white working class individuals who fled the urban areas looking for homes to purchase for their developing families, were created and represent the conformity of houses. The 1950's appear to have been an absolutely conformist time period. This era did not bring only negative effects on America. Conformity reestablished the nation’s confidence as a whole. 10 years later, the American individuals were detectably more hopeful than in 1950 and most were no longer apprehensive of an arrival of another Great Depression. Be that as it may, American values and race relations were territories of concern; these negative impacts of conformity would cause many problems in the future.
Stephanie Coontz's essay `What we really miss about the 1950's' is an essay that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950's as the best decade for children to grow up. Coontz doesn't believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesn't believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50's only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50's that makes it better than other decades from 20's to 80's. She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken `literally' because from 50's there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50's were good, it didn't lead to a better 60, 70, and 80.
Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound weaves two traditional narratives of the fifties -- suburban domesticity and rampant anticommunism -- into one compelling historical argument. Aiming to ascertain why, unlike both their parents and children, postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment, May discovers that cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin: postwar Americans' intense need to feel liberated from the past and secure in the future. (May, p. 5-6, 10) According to May, "domestic containment" was an outgrowth of the fears and aspirations unleashed after the war -- Within the home, potentially dangerous social forces of the new age might be tamed, where they could contribute to the secure and fulfilling life to which postwar women and men aspired.(May, p. 14) Moreover, the therapeutic emphases of fifties psychologists and intellectuals offered private and personal solutions to social problems. The family was the arena in which that adaptation was expected to occur; the home was the environment in which people could feel good about themselves. In this way, domestic containment and its therapeutic corollary undermined the potential for political activism and reinforced the chilling effects of anticommunism and the cold war consensus.(May, p.14)
From the outside, the 1950’s was a great time for America. Society revolved around the idea of America being a middle-class nation. Americans worshipped conformity, and materialism satisfied the need to conform. However, the prosperity of materialistic America hid the growing, numerous problems. Dissent in any way was not tolerated; all injustice was stifled by a fear of difference. In “Fifties Society,” Alan Brinkley discusses the truth of the era; that the fear of nonconformity was hidden by the seemingly prosperous middle-class nation. Brinkley argues the Beat movement and “feminine mystique” show that the people who did not fit in reveal the true colors of 1950’s society.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
(It should be noted that the following discussion of these social developments is primarily of the general, dominant, white, middle-class American and does not address trends related to race or ethnicity.) Stephanie Coontz does just this in her book, The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families. She addresses the several trends that have been misguidedly converted into the popularized images we hold of the 1950s. Indeed, begins Coontz in her argument, the 1950s was a decade in which “greater optimism did exist…even among many individuals and groups who were in terrible circumstances” (Coontz, 1997: 35). The postwar economic boom was
The Red Scare in the 1950’s was actually America’s second red scare. The 1920’s red scare was what helped start suspicion over Communists, but was put off during World War 2. It was no coincidence that what many people called the second red scare ignited after World War 2, during the Cold War, in the 1950’s. The 1920’s red scare started because Americans were paranoid over the fact that Russia may seek revenge after they had overthrown a royal Russian family in 1917. What started Communist ideas in the U.S at the time was the fact that since the war was over many of people were out of jobs which caused people to ask how efficient was the government. The most successful and noteworthy of all the Soviet parties in the 1920’s had to be the International Workers of the World, which was also called the I.W.W or the Wobblies. The Wobblies first strike was on January 21 1919 where about 35,000 shipyard workers struck. They were immediately labeled reds, or Communists. After the first strike mass panic struck the U.S and many major chain stores had to reassure their customers that their workers would not revolt. A mayor named Ole Hansen from Seattle took the Wobblies strikes personally. Strikes continued over the next 6 months and were labeled as “crimes against society”, “conspiracies against the government” and even “plots to establish Communism”. This was when Attorney General A. “
However, American consumerism was praised as contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life. People wanted televisions, cars, washing machines, refrigerators, toasters, and vacuum cleaners (PBA). Between 1945 and 1949, Americans purchased 20 million refrigerators, 21.4 million cars, and 5.5 million stoves (PBS).... ... middle of paper ...
The 1950’s have received a reputation as an age of political, social and cultural conformity. This reputation is rightfully given, as with almost every aspect of life people were encouraged to conform to society. Conforming is not necessarily a negative thing for society, and the aspects of which people were encouraged to conform in the 1950’s have both negative and positive connotations.
1950: The NAACP decides to make its legal strategy a full-scale attack on educational segregation.
The 1920’s and 1950’s both shared the optimism that the conclusion of a war brings, and consequently both began very prosperously. While the materialism of the 20’s faded into the economic depression that followed, and the glow of the 1950’s was dimmed by the onset of communist fever, both decades proved to be successful and iconic in the way that they brought about massive prosperity, and because youth found new ways of expressing themselves and inviting progress. Unfortunately not all outcomes were good, and both eras triggered an onslaught of racial tension that would continue well into the future.
The 1950s was a great success for the civil rights movement; there were a number of developments which greatly improved the lives of black people in America and really started the civil rights movement, as black people became more confident and willing to fight for their cause. The first big development of the ‘50s came almost immediately at the turn of the decade, when the Supreme Court essentially overturned the verdict reached in the Plessy vs. Ferguson trial of 1896. Thanks to the NAACP lawyers, the Supreme Court made three decisions regarding civil rights which not only showed that at times the government was on the black side, but also almost completely overturned the ‘separate but equal’ idea that had been followed for 54 years. The next big step in the civil rights movement came in 1954, with the BROWN vs. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA case, where Thurgood Marshall, representing Brown, argued that segregation was against the 4th Amendment of the American constitution.
One of the major problems of the 1950s was McCarthyism which was created by Senator McCarthy to go against the communist party and it arose much more paranoia and caused many people to be blacklisted (McCarthyism). Being blacklisted meant that you could not get a job anymore because owners of companies or of factories put you on the list. The owners told all the other companies and factories that you were a bad worker or were lazy and a lot of different lies. They would also get fired because of the background checks (Essay). The people at the time were not happy about the situation who would be with so much paranoia and disloyalty going around, and people being fired for small reasons such as being homosexual. One of the questions th...
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
The 1950’s was a decade of economic growth and birth of legendary rock and roll. From the building of Disneyland, to the skyrocketed number of television sets, to the speaking out against civil rights, the United States flourished sufficiently during the 50’s. To most people, the segregation between humans focused primarily on African Americans versus Whites. However, few concentrated on a similar separation: the division between male and female.
The nineteen fifties was a decade of prosperous times in America, but the average lifestyle of an American seemed extremely dull. The average American conformed to social norms, most Americans in the nineteen fifties dressed alike, talked the same way, and seemed to have the same types of personality. Music is what started to change the conformist lifestyle in America. Teenagers started to rebellion against their families by listening to Rock-n-Roll...