HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Objectives:
 How did President Eisenhower try to manage the
nation’s problems?
 How did the workforce change in the 1950s?
 What was suburban life like during the 1950s?
 What was early television programming like?
 How did trends in popular culture reflect larger
social changes among teenagers in the 1950s?
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Eisenhower’s management
 attempted to be conservative in regard to money
and liberal in regard to people
 expanded some programs and cut others
 Modern Republicanism- accepted public sector
welfare responsibility (New Deal Initiatives)
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Workforce changes in the 1950s
 Automation increased productivity but reduced
manufacturing jobs.
 Service positions expanded, creating more pinkcollar jobs.
 Corruption caused support for unions to decrease.
 Corporate mergers created new white-collar jobs.
 Expansion of the Middle Class (Household
Incomes $3000.00-10,000.00)
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
SECTION 2
The
American
Nation
The Affluent Society
Question:
How did the workforce
change during the 1950s?
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
SECTION 2
The
American
Nation
The Affluent Society
automation increased
productivity and decreased
manufacturing jobs
expansion of service
positions created new
pink-collar jobs
Changes in
the 1950s
Workforce
corporate mergers created
new white-collar jobs
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corruption decreased
support for unions
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Suburban life during the 1950s
 many identical communities
 centered around the family
 consumerism
 conformity
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Levittown, Pennsylvania
 Planned communities built on
agricultural land outside major cities.
 Mass production of homes.
Specialized teams of workers would
complete one task and move to the next
home.
 Homes all looked alike.
 Made home ownership available to
more people Average cost $10,000
 Beginning of suburban sprawl
 No African Americans were allowed to
purchase homes in the original
Levittowns
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Early television programming
 Grew from a few thousand to46 million
households in the 1950’s.
 corporate-sponsored (e.g.General Electric Theatre)
 Can you think of any examples of…
 dramas
 quiz shows
 situation comedies
 sports
 variety shows
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Section 2: The Affluent Society
Popular culture and social changes
 Satire in magazines and comic books and rebel
characters in fiction expressed confusion and anger.
 Rock ’n’ roll foreshadowed civil rights challenges.
 Challenges social standards
 Minority performers challenged racial boundaries
 Fear that the new mass-media inspired youth culture
would cause juvenile delinquency
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
HOLT
The American Nation
Show video: Suburbia
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON