Many important issues defined the 1920s. These problems inspired Aldous Huxley to write Brave New World as a warning about the possible consequences of current society’s course. Could society still be hurtling toward the dangerous future Huxley foresaw? It is believed that things are incredibly different now, but how far from Brave New World has society progressed? Several of the problems of the 1920s, such as social and economic class, marriage and the nuclear family, and women’s roles, still influence society today. In the 1920s a growing financial and cultural divide separated the population into social and economic classes. In 1928, the top one percent earned twenty-three point-nine percent of income and the bottom ninety percent earned Class can influence extremely important aspects, like what school a person will go to and what their future career may be, and seemingly unimportant aspects, like where they buy their clothes and where they eat (DeAngelis). This is because of an increasingly widening financial gap where the upper class earns anywhere from millions to billions each year, the middle class earns between $46,000 and a million dollars, and the lower class earns less than $45,000 a year (“Class). Another important aspect of day to day life, homelife in the early 1920s was very traditional. The typical followed the pattern of the traditional nuclear family, which is “a social unit composed of two parents and one or more children” (“Nuclear”); however, some people did live in alternative situations. Despite this traditional family set up, divorce was on the rise, and in 1928, the divorce rate was at sixteen point-six percent (Drowne and Huber During the war, women filled the jobs left by men in the military, and many women chose to continue working after the war’s end, which led to a twenty-five percent increase in the number of working women (“Changing”). Consequently, because the majority of women were married, married women began to dominate the workforce, where previously it was dominated by single women (“Changing”) (Goldin 82). Workplace and societal role changes continue to progress today. Currently, about seventy-four percent of women ages twenty-five through fifty-four are active in the workforce (Kurtz). Therefore, more women are working full time, causing children to have no stay at home parent or for the father to take over the mother’s traditional role. In 2012 there were 2 million stay at home dads, nearly doubling from the 1.1 million in 1989 (Livingston). Many of the paramount issues of the 1920s are still relevant today. While some issues, such as the nuclear family, have diminished in importance, others, such as economic class, remain a defining problem. It seems as though society is not as far from Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons as one might think. Only time will tell whether these issues will continue to influence society or vanish from
The 1920’s is a period that defines the United States. Conflict and opposing values were increasingly prevalent in the American society. The country was torn between new political practices, views on the role of women, religion, social and artistic trends, science and more traditional beliefs. These were ideologies that were surfacing during the 1920’s. Much tension between the 'new America' and the 'old America' was caused by a number of wars and outbreaks (Lyndon).
According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After
Several changes have occurred since the 1920s in traditional family values and the family life. Research revealed several different findings among family values, the way things were done and are now done, and the different kinds of old and new world struggles.
As gender roles were enhanced, the nuclear family was birthed. This ideal family, mainly portrayed in popular culture, had a working father, homemaking mother, and children. Television shows depicting this type of household, Leave it to Beaver, and I Love Lucy, were not representative of the reality of America. Not all of Americans were white, and not all women were happy living as housewives (Boyer 101). Although most did not fit the mold
During America’s involvement in World War Two, which spanned from 1941 until 1945, many men went off to fight overseas. This left a gap in the defense plants that built wartime materials, such as tanks and other machines for battle. As a result, women began to enter the workforce at astonishing rates, filling the roles left behind by the men. As stated by Cynthia Harrison, “By March of [1944], almost one-third of all women over the age of fourteen were in the labor force, and the numbers of women in industry had increased almost 500 percent. For the first time in history, women were in the exact same place as their male counterparts had been, even working the same jobs. The women were not dependent upon men, as the men were overseas and far from influence upon their wives.
In the years the depression raged, many people looked for an answers and longed for a better time. The 1930’s brought back many people’s views of tradition and folk culture. Many intellectuals, sought to look to old times, the Southern Agrarians, a group of eleven southern scholars, sought wanted to society to go back to an Agrarian way of life. Another group known as the New Humanists also wanted to return to the old way of l...
During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's
Lower-upper class believes that money and power are very important in life. The lower-upper class members, also called 'new money,' work harder for what they have as compared to the upper-upper class because most have earned their position in the class, as opposed to being 'old money' (Norton...
Carlisle, Rodney P. Handbook To Life In America. Volume VI, The Roaring Twenties, 1920 To 1929. Facts on File, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 30 May 2012
The upper class is separated by two different distinctions, the upper-upper or the “old money” and the lower-upper or the “new money.” The upper class represents about 5% of the total population. The populations tend to be somewhat older, mostly white, highly educated, with income significantly above the state average. People living within the upper class usually live in expensive neighborhoods, have high prestige and belong to the same clubs and organizations. Their children normally attend private school. The women within the upper class are usually in charge of hosting entertainments at home for guests and often do volunteer work. The men within the upper class are also more active in community service organizations. These families live in large houses on large p...
All these types discrimination work to create an undeniable presumption everyone should make ,which has the power to destroy people and their social morale.All of these types of discrimination are in place because of people who differ from the apex heterosexual ,caucasian male, that has access to wealth and resources.Because the United states is ever changing and becoming more diverse by each decade discrimination becomes more and more common because the masses of the society diverges from the apex rich white male. Classism is in place to cause people of higher class to presume negativity about anyone that appears flower class including lesser intelligence and
Amidst the exceedingly prosperous decade of the 1920’s, traditional American lifestyles and principles were interjected by the new superficial and materialistic beliefs closely associated with “The Roaring Twenties.” Undoubtedly, the 1920’s were a decade of change.
For centuries, women has always been dominated and controlled by men. Society has viewed women as the weaker gender and relied on men in order to survive. As time went on, things have changed, society has became more advance and so are women. During the World War II, women have increased their role in the society by replacing the men’s in the labor market and also increased their status in the society. Today, the growth of women in the work force continually to raise and so are their status. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Bureau of Economic Research, statistics have shown 58.1% of women were in the labor market in 2011 (USBLS) compared to employment rate during the war was 35% of women in the labor market in 1945 (Bussing-Burks). So what factors must have interested women to move from being housewife to the work force? Explanations can be derived through observations of their relationship in the household, their relative status in the society, and their rationality in decision-making.
Today, in a vast majority of families, both the wife and husband have a job. Many working parents are under stress as they have to try to balance the demands of their work, children and relationship. Over the past 25 years, women's and men's roles have changed dramatically. In fact, the world of work and home are not separate, research indicates a profound impact on work and home life.
In the American Social Classes in the 1950s: Selections from Vance Packard’s The Status Seekers, which was edited with an introduction by Daniel Horowitz, Packard discusses the the social construction of America in the 1950s after the Cold War ended and McCarthyism began to diminish. There was much too cheer about during this time period, but also much to worry about Mccarthyism and the atomic bomb produced fear among millions of Americans. At the time there was much economic growth and prosperity in the United States, and the baby boom occurred. This was a time characterized by fear of communism. Many people were dissatisfied by society and unsure how to create a better one. It was widely believed that this time period created a classless society. It was an era of abundance and economic growth. Packard believed that in reality, there was a drift in society and social stratification. Page 45 in Horowitz’s book shows Packard’s view of the social structure of America at the time, The Diploma elite being higher socially, and the supporting, or working and lower classes being lower. Page 45-48 describes each class in detail, from the “real upper class”, being “people who are likely to be on the board of directors of local industries, banks, universities, and community chests to to lowest group of people on the totem pole, being the