The Affluent Society

Post-War America

• the US exited WWII wealthier and more powerful than we entered

• now, refocused on consumer production and consumption

  • the Baby Boom and a housing shortage

  • some possible by GI benefits

    • not extended to Blacks, gays, or some women

• The Suburbs

  • White Flight - wealth moved to the suburbs

    • school systems funded based on property taxes

  • Levittown

    • only whites allowed

• Brown vs. Board of Education - 1954

  • made separate but equal unconstitutional

  • still, educational funding for white students → 4x that of black students

• Women were professional homemakers

  • youth culture, rock n’ roll

• 1948 election

  • polls foretold of Truman losing