The Affluent Society, 194560

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The Affluent Society, 1945-60

• Measuring and Explaining Prosperity
• The Growth of Suburbia
• The Family Ideal and the Reality
• The Other America

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Some measures of prosperity

• GNP doubled during 1950s
• Average workers income grew 35 between 1945 and
  1960
• Americans, 6 of worlds population, consume 33
  of its production
• By 1960, 62 of population owned homes 75
  automobiles, 87 TVs
• Higher education democratized

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Explaining Prosperity

• Federal spending (17 of GNP in 1950s, 1 of GNP
  in 1929)
• Defense spending about ½ of federal budget
• New technologynew industries
• Automationrising productivity
• U.S. dominance in the international economy
• A global demand for U.S. products
• Cheap oil and other raw materials

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Explaining Prosperity

• Consumer credit 8.4 billion (1946) to 45
  billion (1958)
• Government programs boost consumption
• GI Bill 14.5 billion, 1945-56
• Housing subsidies FHA and VA
• Social security
• Labor unions

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Growth of Suburbia
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Growth of Suburbia

• Mass-production construction
• Government subsidies through loans, income tax
  deductions, highway construction
• Car-centered
• homogeneity

Levittown
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The Suburbs and Car Culture
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The Family Ideal the Baby Boom

• 1930s 2.4 children
• 1950s 3.2 children
• 1965 41 of U.S. population is under age 20

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The Family Ideal
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The Family Ideal

• Strict gender roles
• Early marriage
• Being subordinate to men is part of being
  feminine. Women who ask for equality fight
  nature.

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The Family Ideal . . . and the Reality
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The Family Ideal . . . and the Reality

• By 1960, twice as many women worked outside the
  home as in 1940
• One-third of married women employed
• The Kinsey reports
• Playboy challenges male commitment to the family
  ideal

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The Other America

• of poor families fell from 34 in 1947 to 22
  in 1960
• Still 35 million Americans were poor one-third
  of the poor lived in rural areas, including 2
  million migrant farm workers
• 8 million of the poor were elderly

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Why did the Other America fail to share in the
affluent society?

• Urban decline
• Limitations of Social Security and union
  organization
• Limitations of public housing (1949 Housing Act
  authorized 810,000 units only 320,000 built by
  1960
• Government lending policies red-lining
• Urban renewal poor removal

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Why did the Other America fail to share in the
affluent society?

• Indian policies termination and relocation
• Mexican Americans the bracero program and
  periodic deportations
• Legal discrimination against all minorities