Lecture 10 - The "Affluent Society", Its shortcomings and Its Discontents

America’s Economy after WW2

• Became an unparalleled superpower in the real-world economy, as bombs weren’t dropped here apart from Pearl Harbor

• American war effort dramatically expanded American economic capabilities

• 1955 US produced ½ of manufactured goods in the world, but Americans were only 6% of the world population

The formation of a broad middle class of unprecedented size and scope (newfound wealth was actually well distributed, lowest rates of economic inequality) after WW2 was due to…

1. Unionization Spurred by federal protections for unionizing through the Wagner act, 1/3 of workers were unionized, they got better wages, factory jobs even paid fair middle class wages.

2. G.I. Bill: Was created in 1944 and gave veterans of WW2 billions of dollars to pay for homes, college, job training, helped millions of working-class Americans gain more wealth and better paying jobs

3. Federal Promotion of Homeownership more generally - especially through FHA insured loans

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

• Founded during the 1930s at the height of the New Deal

• Began offering mortgage insurance, told banks that government would guarantee the repayment of home loans up to certain amount → banks gave out more loans

• Still exists today and was expanded after WW2 → millions of Americans benefited and became first time homeowners.

Describe New Suburban American

• Many people fled cities and went to newly built suburbs

• This was promoted by the government, FHA was designed to promote settlement in the suburbs and not cities

• In the 1950’s and 60s the government spent money building new interstate highway → easier to live farther away from cities

2nd Great Migration

• African Americans were moving to the north/west because jobs during WW2

• Even larger than 1st Migration after WW1, continued after WW2 into the 50s and 60s as economy continued to expand

• Even though they moved away from the south they still go the worst jobs available, among other thing such as:

  • Fewer benefits form the G.I. Bill since it was administered locally

  • FHA and redlining: FHA told banks not to lend to ppl in black neighborhoods, and to no promote racial transition in white neighborhood.

• This led to the emergence of poor and predominantly African American inner cities - black Americans stayed in cities while white Americans moved to the suburbs

• Because homes were a lot of money - white ppl’s children could sell it for lots of money, black ppl could not do this

Operation Wetback

• Deportation of over a million Mexicans even those who were american citizens,

• Johnson reed – low quotas on immigrants for Europe and also barred immigrants from Asia, but did not target immigrants in the western hemisphere – because of farm lobby.

• POTUS – Dwight Eisenhower ordered operation wetback

• Some were sent deep into Mexico where they knew no one, other were actually legal immigrants, there were mistakes sometimes, but there was also prejudice, focused on primarily farm laborers in south and west, but even reached Chicago.

Bracero Program

• Bracero - slang for day laborer/farmhand

• regulated mexican immigration, started in 1940s, roots in WW2

• Commercial farmers found it hard to find workers for their fields – they wanted seasonal workforce, Mexican government agreed to work with them because…

  • They thought they could regulate the number of Mexicans that leave Mexico

  • Good way to prevent exploitation of Mexican workers on farms since the contracts were government backed.

  • Reality: More Mexicans wanted to come to us, more than what bracero program allowed, but they came anyways, or they just stayed after the contract expired -> made their way to Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles

Suburbia and Conformity

• People strictly adhered to a certain set of family values and practices:

  • Husband works

  • Wife was the homemaker

  • Getting married and having kids

• Houses and lawns looked very similar

• TV reinforced this conformity

• Some may have been seeking stability in a perpetually unstable world

• Some saw this as simple-minded though

Beat Generation

• Most famous group to criticize the conformity

• Thrived in the 1950s

• Comprised of some of the most famous American poets and writers(Ex: Allen Ginbers, Jack Kerouac)

• Rejected mainstream culture like conventional family life and consumerism

• Celebrated spontaneity and absolute personal freedom

• Influenced counterculture, hippies of the 1960s