HIST 2112 1st edition Lecture 25 Outline of Previous Lecture I The Second Red Scare II Political Manifestation of the Scare III The Second Red Scare in Popular Culture Outline of Current Lecture I Levittown II Economic Growth in the 1950s and beyond III Corporate Liberalism in Action IV Hyperconsumerism V Cultural Critics of Corporations Consumerism and Suburbia VI Consumerism and the teenager Current Lecture I II Levittown 3 places in America called Levittown They got their name from the construction guy that put the towns together William Levit Was most famous for taking the assembly line when it came to building houses Because of baby boom at this time the housing demand was high There was finally houses for the common man Economic Growth in the 1950s and beyond Between 1945 and 1950 there were more houses constructed by far Everyone is doing better even the poorest of the poor In the 1950s was the growth of Suburbia o Cold War military spending The government is spending a lot of money and it is pumping the economy 10 15 of the spending is related to the cold war The creation of military industrial complex Interstate highway system o Deliberate government policy The government wanted to increase growth and start suburbia It had a lot to do with the New Deal These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III IV V The continuing influence of the New Deal idea of activist government liberalism Liberalism at home domestically means that the government has a duty to help take care of people and stimulate suburbia The government should use its power to lift up peoples quality of life and make people consumers Corporate Liberalism corporate friendly in the 1950s liberalism believed that if the corporations were run correctly they could benefit society and make the US unstoppable Liberal Consensus the bipartisan popularity of moderate corporate liberalism Dwight Eisenhower He was the classic middle of the road Republican Believed in the new Deal He was a liberal leading Republican John F Kennedy Was middle of the road as well Corporate Liberalism in Action One of the major ways they stimulate the economy was the highways Highway Construction and Federally backed mortgages o Goal was to stimulate housing industry automobile industry and thus much of the economy resulting in better wages and more consumer spending o Mortgages and racial discrimination The banks usually wouldn t loan money to African Americans Some people would give the money to an African American family to live in a suburban area The white families would sell their homes for really cheap prices and that person would buy it and jack up the prices and sell it to nonwhite families Hyperconsumerism Consumer Spending o Spending goes up due to people having more money o Credit cards Consumerism is freedom o People would have kitchen debates over whether suburbia was a good thing Cultural Critics of Corporations Consumerism and Suburbia Sloan Wilson Man in the Grey Flannel Suit 1955 C wright Mill White Collar 1951 David Riesman The Lonely Crowd 1951 William Whyte The Organization Man 1956 VI Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique 1963 Consumerism and the teenager Before the 1950s you didn t have the concept of the teenager Teenagers was created by consuerism
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