1. USA & the Wider World
The American Way of Life

2. 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’

3. 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

4. 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)

5. Population
1940 – 130 million
1955 – 165 million
1960 – 179 million
1989 – 250 million

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. The Cadillac

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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