USA CONFORMITY AND CHALLENGE 1955-92
AFFLUENCE AND CONFORMITY
Consumer credit 1950 $8.4 billion – 1960 $45 billion = indicator of personal buying
power
1953 white income family double that of black
CITIES
Population rose by 35m 1940-50s
In 50s 12 largest cities gained 1.8m non whites = racial tension
City centres preserve of non-whites, e.g. Harlem NY
Federal housing administration = anti jew/black restrictive covenants on new suburbs
Inner city ghettos vs white suburbia
SUBURBS
Levittown's 17k+, cheap home loans, FHA financed 30% of all new homes in 50s
1960 3/5 families owned homes
1950-60 18m moved to suburbs, by 1970 80m lived in them
HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT
1945-60 number of cars increased by 133%
1956 National interstate and Defence Highways Act – NIADH ($25 billion, nationwide
network)
A stimulus to construction/ car industry + suburbia growth
CARS
1955 = 8 million cars produced yearly
Detroit: General Motors, Ford, Chrysler
,1/7 Americans worked in industry linked to car manufacture
1960 – 75% owned at least 1 car
Car culture = 1956, 3000 drive in movie theatres/ 1954 Mcdonald/ ‘hot rod’
50s 7 million cars discarded yearly – consumer age of affluence
WHITE COLLAR
1960, 2x as many women in work then 1940 + 40% over 16 held a job
Defence spending ($40b yearly in 50s) created jobs = fed gov employed 8m in 1957 to
do white collar work
+ service industries, e.g. Disneyland 1955
CONSUMERISM
1950 Diner’s Club first credit card, 1958 AMEX
New out of town malls, in 1945 only 8, by 1960 there were 4000+ = shopping as a major
recreational activity
1957 sputnik, space race led to new tech = nonstick pans/ home computers
SUBURBAN CONFMORMITY/ TV AND FILM
1960 only 5% of suburb dwellers black
1956 life magazine ‘ideal’ MC woman
Suburban life not popular in film, 1957 no down payment flopped
1958 The bridge on the river kwai + 1962 Lawrence of Arabia = best picture Oscar
1955 Rebel without a cause, James dean ‘quiet gen’ of youth
50s I love lucy + father knows best + 60s Dick van Dycke show
1963 lilies of the field, African American Sidney portier best actor Oscar
ADVERTISEMENT
Tv wholly financed through ads
, Advertisers spent $10b yearly
TEEN CULTURE/ MUSIC
1953 The wild one, Marlon Brando
Leather jackets/ slang/ greased hair
Alfred Kinsey research 1948, 95% of males by 15 + 1953 similar on fem
1954 Fredick Wertham ‘seduction of the young’ on comic books, by 1955 13 states
passed laws regulating content
Chuck Berry but only really took off when performed by whites (1955 rock around the
clock, in the blackboard jungle)
Elvis, teen idol
1959 Motown record label founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, launched Diana Ross +
popularity of black American pop music not seen since jazz in 20s
BEATNIK
Marijuana, Hinduism, anti-arms race
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, Lucien Carr
1957 On the road
Bob Dylan, blues + folk music
CIVIL RIGHTS
Montgomery bus boycott 1955-56, segregated pub transport declared unconstitutional
SCLC (southern Christian leadership conference) + MLK
1960 SNCC (students nonviolent coordinating committee) for desegregating lunch
counters, success
1961 CORE (congress of racial equality) Freedom rides, attacked by mobs, national
publicity
1963 Birmingham Alabama, nonviolent demonstrations vs City police chief Eugene
‘bull’ Connor = police dogs/ watercannons/ clubs
Kennedy addressed on TV, intention to introduce civil rights act
AFFLUENCE AND CONFORMITY
Consumer credit 1950 $8.4 billion – 1960 $45 billion = indicator of personal buying
power
1953 white income family double that of black
CITIES
Population rose by 35m 1940-50s
In 50s 12 largest cities gained 1.8m non whites = racial tension
City centres preserve of non-whites, e.g. Harlem NY
Federal housing administration = anti jew/black restrictive covenants on new suburbs
Inner city ghettos vs white suburbia
SUBURBS
Levittown's 17k+, cheap home loans, FHA financed 30% of all new homes in 50s
1960 3/5 families owned homes
1950-60 18m moved to suburbs, by 1970 80m lived in them
HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT
1945-60 number of cars increased by 133%
1956 National interstate and Defence Highways Act – NIADH ($25 billion, nationwide
network)
A stimulus to construction/ car industry + suburbia growth
CARS
1955 = 8 million cars produced yearly
Detroit: General Motors, Ford, Chrysler
,1/7 Americans worked in industry linked to car manufacture
1960 – 75% owned at least 1 car
Car culture = 1956, 3000 drive in movie theatres/ 1954 Mcdonald/ ‘hot rod’
50s 7 million cars discarded yearly – consumer age of affluence
WHITE COLLAR
1960, 2x as many women in work then 1940 + 40% over 16 held a job
Defence spending ($40b yearly in 50s) created jobs = fed gov employed 8m in 1957 to
do white collar work
+ service industries, e.g. Disneyland 1955
CONSUMERISM
1950 Diner’s Club first credit card, 1958 AMEX
New out of town malls, in 1945 only 8, by 1960 there were 4000+ = shopping as a major
recreational activity
1957 sputnik, space race led to new tech = nonstick pans/ home computers
SUBURBAN CONFMORMITY/ TV AND FILM
1960 only 5% of suburb dwellers black
1956 life magazine ‘ideal’ MC woman
Suburban life not popular in film, 1957 no down payment flopped
1958 The bridge on the river kwai + 1962 Lawrence of Arabia = best picture Oscar
1955 Rebel without a cause, James dean ‘quiet gen’ of youth
50s I love lucy + father knows best + 60s Dick van Dycke show
1963 lilies of the field, African American Sidney portier best actor Oscar
ADVERTISEMENT
Tv wholly financed through ads
, Advertisers spent $10b yearly
TEEN CULTURE/ MUSIC
1953 The wild one, Marlon Brando
Leather jackets/ slang/ greased hair
Alfred Kinsey research 1948, 95% of males by 15 + 1953 similar on fem
1954 Fredick Wertham ‘seduction of the young’ on comic books, by 1955 13 states
passed laws regulating content
Chuck Berry but only really took off when performed by whites (1955 rock around the
clock, in the blackboard jungle)
Elvis, teen idol
1959 Motown record label founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, launched Diana Ross +
popularity of black American pop music not seen since jazz in 20s
BEATNIK
Marijuana, Hinduism, anti-arms race
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, Lucien Carr
1957 On the road
Bob Dylan, blues + folk music
CIVIL RIGHTS
Montgomery bus boycott 1955-56, segregated pub transport declared unconstitutional
SCLC (southern Christian leadership conference) + MLK
1960 SNCC (students nonviolent coordinating committee) for desegregating lunch
counters, success
1961 CORE (congress of racial equality) Freedom rides, attacked by mobs, national
publicity
1963 Birmingham Alabama, nonviolent demonstrations vs City police chief Eugene
‘bull’ Connor = police dogs/ watercannons/ clubs
Kennedy addressed on TV, intention to introduce civil rights act
