The 1950s: Affluence,
Consumerism, & Domesticity
G.I. Bill
• Prioritized jobs for
veterans
• 4 million veterans used
low-interest loans &
mortgages
• 4 years of college or job
training paid by
government
• 1947 = WW2 vets are
over 50% of college
students
I. The Affluent Society
• By 1960 = 60% of US families
owned homes, 75% owned
cars, 87% owned 1 TV
• Jobs created through
government funded defense
industry
• 1950 = Diner’s Club issued first
credit card
Suburbanization: Prosperity in the Suburbs
• 58 million cars
purchased in 1950s
• 1946 = $79 million
spent building freeways
vs. 1960 = $2.6 billion
• 85% of the 13 million
new homes built in
1950s located in
suburbs
• Red Lining & Loan
denials block African
Americans from
buying homes in
white suburbs
Ticky Tacky Houses
“A multitude of uniform,
unidentifiable houses, lined up
inflexibly, at uniform distances,
on uniform roads, in a treeless
communal waste, inhabited by
people of the same class, the
same income, the same age
group, witnessing the same
television performances,
eating the same tasteless
prefabricated foods, from the
same freezers, conforming to
in every outward and inward
respect to a common mold.”
-Lewis Mumford, The City in
History, 1961
Levittown, New York
II. Consumerism & Conformity
• 1/7 of income spent on
entertainment
• 1946 = 1 out of 18,000
homes owned 1 TV vs.
1960 = 9 out of 10 homes
own 1 TV
• Advertising creates
brand consciousness
• TV celebrates conformity,
family shows, teen idols,
perfect mothers
Politics & TV
• President
Eisenhower’s “We
Like Ike” ads
• JFK vs. Nixon
Presidential debates,
1960
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jznAJyS
wkmM
II. Domesticity
• The Baby Boom
Generation = 76 million
born between 1946 –
1964
• 1 in 3 women married by
19
• By 1960, children under
14 are 1/3 of US
population
• Dr. Spock, Common Sense
Book of Baby & Child,
1946
Marriage in Pop Culture
“Catering to his comfort will
provide you with immense
personal satisfaction; don’t
complain if he’s home late
for dinner or stays out all
night; don’t ask him
questions about his actions
or question his judgment; a
good wife always knows her
place.”
-Housekeeping Monthly,
“The Good Wife’s Guide,”
1955