The Roaring Twenties Babbitts Klansmen and Flappers The Twenties and the Return to Normalcy 1 An era of political conservatism rejecting Progressive reform 2 An age of conflict urban vs rural new vs old modernists vs traditionalists sums up culture I II An Economic Snapshot of the 1920s 1 HUGE economic growth overall a Manufacturing increase 60 b GNP goes up 40 c Per capita income up 21 2 improved standards of living though some get it better than others a wage of factory worker up 15 b wage of white collar worker up 30 3 President Warren G Harding A return to normalcy 4 Politically conservative era dominated by republicans until the stock market crash 5 Progressives dying down 6 Industry thriving 7 Labor unions on defensive 8 Very consumer oriented cars appliances seeing movies smoking drinking etc 9 exception agriculture in trouble a over production keeps prices low b more than 500 000 farmers lose land to debt c share croppers had it worse 10 many people freaking out farmers and traditionalists because they don t like African Americans getting uppity women flappers or industrialization III The Rise of Consumerism biggest change 1 The automobile symbol of consumerism 1 IV a 1920 10 million cars in America b 1930 26 million cars in America A Culture of Conformity 1 Consumerism as freedom 2 Consumerism as shallow materialism a Sinclair Lewis and Babbitt 1924 i A real estate salesman in Ohio is married to a bored wife has no sex life and 2 snotty teenagers just as conformist as his kids and wife only thinks about money and having everything that everyone else has ii Consumer life of the 1920s making people go crazy I Women and the Consumer Lifestyle 1 women s work limited by women s sphere a Secretary stenographer service jobs like a maid b Most women in work force are single 2 Consumerism and the tyranny of housework a Women expected to keep a cleaner house because 3 The New Woman made possible by the new of appliances consumer culture a the Flapper wild free fun short hair lives in the city smokes drinks in public listens to jazz dances close very risqu b less pressure to get married rise of advertising with mail order Sears and Roebucks V Backlash against Modernism The Rise of Fundamentalism and the KKK a Fundamentalism a religious reaction against consumerism and modernism i Flappers whores harlots flaunting women s proper roles 2 ii i ii iii Babbitts unspiritual materialists b The new Ku Klux Klan Old Klan stop black men voting New Klan hatred reflects a changed America immigrants Catholics Jews labor unions communists etc Popular among farmers and small businessmen those people not sharing in the prosperity of the 1920s and threatened by these new modern ideas and people Status Anxiety here 3
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