AMERICAN HISTORY STUDY GUIDE

8.6 – Mass Culture in the 1950s (431-437)

Heading                                                                                                    Section Title        Section #

Write the questions; number them per the study guide                                                            Highlight vocabulary (use all terms from the list that appear in the textbook)

Respond with a well supported paragraph (nearly always)                                                                                                                                       Skip a line after each item.

A. Suburban Migration

OBJECTIVE: Examine the rise of the suburbs and the growth of the interstate highway system.

1. Why did suburbs form in the 1950s? [p 431+]

2. How did the government support the growth of suburbs? [p 432]

3. How did the new suburbs differ from the organized streetcar suburbs of the 1920s?

[p 432]

1. Causes and Effects of Suburban Growth

1. Suburbs

2. William Levitt

3. GI Bill

4. Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

4. What were the impacts of the Interstate Highway Act? [p 432]

2. Interstates Support Migration and Prosperity

5. Dwight D. Eisenhower

6. Interstate Highway Act (1956)

7. Las Vegas

8. Disneyland

5. How did the car culture affect society?

[p 432]

3. Technological Innovations Lead to the “Car Culture”

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B. Increased Consumption and Consumerism

OBJECTIVE: Explain the causes and effects of prosperity in the 1950s on consumers.

6. Why were Americans able to enter a new period of consumerism in the 1950s? [p 433]

1. Introduction

9. Consumerism

2. Free Enterprise System Improves Standards of Living

10. Median family income

11. Diner’s Club

7. Which items did Americans begin buying in greater numbers in the 1950s? [p 433]

• A bulleted list is acceptable.

3. Technological Innovations Drive New Conveniences

C. Families and Communities in the Fifties

OBJECTIVE: Discuss postwar changes in family life.

8. Describe the ideal American family of the 1950s. [p 434]

• Keep in mind, “ideal” is used from a very biased perspective. I am not condoning this idealized version of the family.
• A nuclear family, elementary family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of two parents and their children. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, to the larger extended family, and to a family with more than two parents

1. Introduction

2. The “Ideal” American Family

12. “Ideal” American family

13. Breadwinner

14. Nuclear family

9. Explain Dr. Spock’s views on child raising.  [p 434]

3. Baby Boom Increases Focus on Children

15. Dr. Benjamin Spock

16. Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care

17. “A permissive culture”

10. Explain how religion evolved in the 1950s.

[p 434+]

4. Billy Graham Contributes to a Religious Revival

18. Billy Graham

19. “In God We Trust”

“Under God”

11. Describe the medical innovations that came out of the 1950s. [p 435]

5. Specific Needs Lead to Medical Innovations

20. Dr. Jonas Salk

21. Albert Sabin

22. Penicillin

D. Educational Opportunities and Priorities

OBJECTIVE: Describe changes in education in the postwar period.

12. Describe how the education system evolved in the 1950s. [p 435+]

1. Introduction

2. Defense Spending Shapes Education Priorities

23. National Defense Education Act (1958)

3. Education Becomes More Accessible

24. California Master Plan

25. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

E. Television Shapes American Culture

OBJECTIVE: Describe how television shaped American culture.  

13. Create a collage of the images of the idealized America of the 1950s.  [p ALL]

• You must use information from the entire section to generate this idealized vision of America in the 1950s.
• Title it: The Idealized America of the 1950s
• Be sure to include the shows listed in this subsection; highlight or use an alternate color text for all terms used.           PRINT FOR CLASS

1. Introduction

26. Howdy Doody Show

27. Mickey Mouse Club

28. Lone Ranger

29. I Love Lucy

30. Leave It to Beaver

31. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

32. Father Knows Best

33. Mass national culture