Chapter 26: The Affluent society

The Affluent Society

term used by economist John Kenneth Galbraith to describe the American economy in the 1950s, during which time many Americans became enraptured with appliances and homes in the suburbs

new deal housing policy

was created to protect current homeowners and provide incentives for new homeowners.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in surburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

Redlining

A process by which banks draw lines on a map and refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries.

Racial exclusion

Affected numerous different parts of post

educational segregation

disparity in education between children from high and low income neighborhoods. In the 50's it was the literal segregation of children in schools

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

1954

Enforcement of Integration

Many places had to start integrating like schools and public transportation, but many chose to do it very slowly.

Emmett Till

Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement.

Rosa Parks

United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement (born in 1913)

The Montgomery bus boycott

protest in 1955

Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Television

The introduction of widespread television in the 50's seriously altered cultural and social aspects of America

nuclear family

Mother, father and children living as a unit. THe "perfect" and ideal life in the 50's

Reproductive Consensus

New cult of professionalism that pervaded postwar American culture, including the professionalization of homemaking.

The Baby boom

the larger than expected generation in United States born shortly after World War II

Rock and roll

"Radical" new music genre that rose within the 50's due to artists like Elvis and little Richard. The genre's controversy led to a generational gap

Libertarians and the "Free Market"

Libertarians clung and were the primary advocates of the "free market" idea

Dwight Eisenhower

United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany

Consensus Politics

Politics where the parties are in broad agreement over an issue or the handling of something.