1. Consensus and Conformity?
America in the 1950s

2. The 1950s: (Some) Essential Questions
To what extent was the decade of the 1950s one of widespread consensus and conformity?
What factors contributed to the growth of suburbia? What resulted from it?
To what extent were the seeds of political and cultural rebellion sewn in the 1950s?
Who benefitted from 1950s-era prosperity? How did it change America?

3. Post-War Economic Boom and the Consumer Culture
GNP more than doubled betw and 1960
Per capita income also doubled during that time.
The growing middle class had more and more purchasing power, which fueled a burgeoning culture of consumerism.
WHY the unprecedented growth?
-- pent-up demand from war years
-- GI Bill’s housing and education benefits
-- Strong unions
-- manufacturing sector benefitted from WWII

4. Demographic Trends: Baby Boom!

5. Demographic Trends: Migration to the “Sun Belt” (S+W)
Cities like Miami and Los Angeles grew rapidly.

6. Religious Revival
Evangelical Christianity grew and prospered as the Cold War gripped America.

7. The Automobile Age
How did the automobile change America in the 1950s?

8. Interstate Highway Act of 1956

9. William Levitt’s Levittowns

10. The Franchise: A New Type of Business
Positive progress or something else?

11. Suburbia: Progress?

12. Alfred Kinsey’s Reports
What impact did Kinsey’s highly-publicized studies have?

13. Rise of the Sex Symbol

14. Technology: Television

15. Technology: Dawn of the Computer Age
ENIAC

16. Technology: The Transistor
Transistors revolutionized the electronics industry by making compact electronic equipment possible.

17. Cultural Rebellion: Rebel Movies

18. Cultural Rebellion: Rock ‘n’ Roll
What was the social significance of Rock ‘n’ Roll?

19. Cultural Rebellion: Abstract Expressionism

20. Cultural Rebellion: Beat Generation Literature
HOWL -- Allen Ginsberg, 1956
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked . . .
anglebearded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,. . .