Do you think it is important to have a
school dress code? Why or why not? Are
there any rules you think are
unnecessary?
Bell Ringer
1920s Shopping List
 It’s time to start a family!
But first you need a
home!
 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath,
2,000 square feet
$300,000
 4 bedroom, 3 Bath,
2,500 square feet
$500,000
 Apple Stock $520 Per
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Share
Audi TT $44,695
Vacation for 2 $2,000
Housekeeping $500 Per
Week (Maid and Butler)
Personal Chef $40 Per
Hour
Food $200 Per Trip
Gucci Suit $3,100
The struggle between tradition and modernity
A shift in the beliefs
of many
Americans during
the 1920s on their
ideas of family,
relationships,
gender roles,
religion, and
especially, war.
The New Morality
Causes for the “New Morality”
 World War I
 Increasing role
of women in
politics
 Mass Media
WWI’s Contribution to the “New
Morality”
 U.S. soldiers received sex education as part
of their training, thus becoming more open
with their sexuality
 Some women took on jobs left open by men
who went to war
 Women got more involved with politics and
the community
 More women became professionals in more
jobs
 Mental illness in America
 It was believed that mental illnesses
were untreatable
 Mental illness had a serious social
stigma; mentally ill family members
were placed in asylums and never
discussed afterwards (eugenics)
 Causes for changes in mental health
 Many WWI veterans were still suffering
from “Shell Shock” (PTSD)
 Social conflicts increased fear and
paranoia
 Sigmund Freud
 Conscious and unconscious mind
 Id, ego, superego
 Life and death instincts
 Psychosexual development
 Defense mechanisms
Human
Psychology
 The temperance movement
of the Progressive Era gained
steam after the turn of the
century.
 People believed prohibition would
end unemployment, domestic
violence, and poverty.
 18th Amendment: Prohibits
the manufacture,
distribution, and sale of
alcohol in the United States.
 Volstead Act: Gave the
government the ability to enforce
Prohibition, making over 540,000
arrests.
America Loves Their Liquor
 Women’s suffrage had some success at state and local levels, but had
failed to achieve national acceptance.
 After President Woodrow Wilson announced that World War I was a
war for democracy, women were up in arms.
 The National Women's Party led by Alice Paul became the first "cause"
to picket outside the White House.
 In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, granting women’s
suffrage.
Women’s Suffrage
 Founded the American Birth
Control League (would later
become Planned
Parenthood)
 Believed that families
standard of living would
improve if they limited the
number of children they had.
◦ Would later become one of the
driving forces for the FDA
approval of “The Pill”
 Was also a proponent of
eugenics, believing that birth
control was the best method
of stopping the increase of
the “unfit” in society.
Margaret Sanger
La Vie Boehme!
 "Bohemian" is
applied to people
who live
unconventional,
usually artistic, lives.
 Congregated in
Greenwich Village,
on the lower west
side of NYC.
 Sought to break
social barriers,
refuting traditional
gender norms and
sexual stereotypes.
Not the kind of girls you bring home to Mama!
Causes of the New Morality
Women’s roles
changed drastically
during the 1920s,
largely as a result of
their actions and
independence
during WWI.
Changes in Society
 Women in the workforce
 During the war, women took over
jobs men left behind
 After the war, some women
remained in the workforce, though in
less dangerous jobs
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Teaching
Nursing
Telephone operator
Secretary
 Women’s colleges
 Before WWI, there was a genuine fear
that college made women unfit for
marriage and motherhood.
 Revealed the new image of the
“modern women”: intelligent,
independent, and not interested in
the domestic life.
New Roles in the Home and
Family
 Women and consumer
culture
 Became the “purchasing
agent” of the family
 Household tasks become
much easier with electric
appliances
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No less time spent on
housework
Decrease in “domestics”
 Romance and relationships
 Highly inspired by the romances on
the silver screen
The New Girl