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USA & the Wider World The American Way of Life
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Affluence WW2 brought full employment Wages were high – 1940 - $754
$1,289 After WW2 incomes continued to rise - $3,319 $8,000 ‘the economy of abundance’
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Immigration With the baby boom – immigration contributed to the dramatic rise in population WW2 Refugees 17,000 Korean war brides and their children Immigrants from Eastern Europe 275,000 Mexicans became US citizens – farm labourers in California, Arizona and Texas
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Migration From rural to urban areas
The middle classes moved from the cities to the suburbs Black Americans moved from the South to the North (and west)
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Population 1940 – 130 million 1955 – 165 million 1960 – 179 million 1989 – 250 million
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The New Rich The ‘old rich’ retained and expanded their wealth
The Rockefellers The Vanderbilts By 1960 – 100,000 millionaires The ‘new rich’ made their money from oil, financial services and property 1988 – 1.3 million millionaires
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The Consumer Society Vast increase in range of goods Between 1945-1950
20 million fridges 5.5 million cookers 21.4 million cars By end 1950s – 225,000 dishwashers per year By 1960 half of American homes had a TV Advertising
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The Car Culture Mass movement to suburbs Poor public transport
1945 – 26 million cars 1975 – 130 million cars The country was changed to facilitate car ownership – motorways, car parks, drive-ins, drive through’s etc Important for image and status Petrol was cheap.
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The Cadillac
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Buy Now, Pay Later Instalment buying – hire purchase Retailers offered consumers attractive conditions with low interest rates General Motors ‘buy now, pay later’ Banks and department stores began issuing credit cards During 1950s – private debt went from $105 billion to $263 billion By 1970s over 600 million credit cards for 150 million adult Americans
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Little Boxes Malvina Reynolds Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same.
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Presentation prepared by: Dominic Haugh
St. Particks Comprehensive School Shannon Co. Clare Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author
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