Society and Culture change, 1917-1980

Impact of ww1

• before ww1 women struggling to get the vote
• war gave chance for women to work
• once the war ended most women fired to open job to returning men
• congress passed 19th amendment 1920 giving women the vote under the same rules of men
• 1920 the league of women's voters was set up 
• many poor women didn't vote
• few black women voted especially in the south

The roaring 20's

• after the war ended people thought things would return to 'normal with women going back to their traditional roles as wives
• most married women who worked were obliged to work at home for low wages
• some jobs such as teaching barred from women and employers made a rule not to employ women
• White women most open to change
• changing industry opened more office jobs such as working in a typing pool which became accepted as women work
• between 1910 and 1940 nom of women working went up from 7,640,000 (8.3% of the population) to 13,007,000 (9.8 % of the population)
• women 'last hired, first fired'
• flapper were women who worked, cut their hair short and wore nontraditional clothing like short skirts/dresses silk stockings etc...
• flappers would also smoke, drink and acted like young men.
• opinions on flappers varied some were shocked, this was mainly the traditional older people in society, whereas the younger generation looked up to them.
• speakeasies were seen as a place where no lady should go alone
• Once married many women took a more traditional role and flappers were only a small percentage

Impact of the New deal

• new deals aid for families with dependent children provided some benefits for the poorest families but as a rule, men came first
• 1933 civilian conservation corps provided 2.5 million young men with a job replanting forests and digging reservoirs whilst living in army-run camps
• similar job for women set up in 1933 camp Tera funded by mainly private donations
• 1936b only 36 camps taking 5,000 women a year and only took women on for 2-3 months and provided no work or wages.
• black women benefited little from the new deal 
• ever dollar a white man earned a white woman earned 61 cents and 23 cents for black women
• Fannie Pecks set up housewives leagues in Detroit and encouraged white women to shop at black run stores they spread to other towns but only helped on a local level

Impact of ww2

• Rosie the Riveter iconic poster telling women 'we can do it' encourage women to join war work
• 1940 selective training and service prepared to draft men into the army and train women to replace men's jobs
• 1941 Lanham act childcare provision was extended in 1944 were 130,000 children were in day care
• percentage of married women working rose from 15- 23%
• the women's land army of America reformed to provide farm workers. held workshops and meetings and had their own publication
• worker shortages meant black women could train for professions they previously couldnt have like the number of black women training to be a nurse rose from 1,108 in 1939 to 2,600 in 1945

Post-war changes

• many women not reemployed by factories that had turned from ammunition to electrical goods
• GI bills guaranteed education to return soldiers
• funded day care ended in 1946
• after dip immediately after the end of war women employment rose again
• women had a wider variety of jobs as  restricted jobs had been suspended during the war and many restrictions were not reinstated
• workforce rose from 10.1 in 1940 to 22.2 in 1950
• 1936 82% thought women shouldn't work, 1942 13%
• the attitude of husband changed of women working

changes Suburban living made 1941- 1960

• suburbs sprung up post-war and were within commuting distance of cities 
• socially segregated, black and white suburbs, integrated suburbs were rare
• black Americans trying to live in white suburbs found it difficult to find someone to buy from
• 1960 19 million people lived in suburbs more than in 1950 they had cinemas schools and leisure facilities
• advertising made people aspire to live there
• inner cities became locked in a 'downward spiral'
• the first large shopping mall was built in 1954 in  the Detroit suburbs

Impact of the Women's Liberation movement 1961-80

• president Kennedy influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt set up a commission of enquiry on the status of women
• 1963 published its results praising the equal pay act
• 1963 report stated from infancy girls were not encouraged to think about careers 
• 1958 education act said schools should have counsellors to work with students, only 12,000 counsellors for all state schools in USA1964 civil rights act included sexual equality

Betty Friedan

• a psychologist and journalist published book called the 'feminine mystique' about constraints on suburban life and problems of white, educated, married women
• the book got women thinking of their rights
• This spurred women of white and middle class to gather and work more actively for women's rights 
• NOW was the National Organisation for Women set up in 1966 with Friedan being a founding member
• Now wanted better enforcement of the equal pay act and civil rights act.

Young Radical

• second strand to the womens liberation movement, members under 30 white and college educated
• many had worked with civil rights group SNCC and SDS
• set up local radical groups to push for women's liberation and equality
• both strands of the movement wanted the same things: the right to have equal pay, opportunity, to decide about their own bodies eg. married/not, conception/not
• a national coalition of American nuns participated in a strike for women's rights in 1970
• Now membership rose from 1,000 in 1967 to 40,000 in 1974
• radical groups drew the most media attention and men could belittle the smaller radical groups easier than bigger ones such as NOW

Opposition

• conservatives rejected the women's liberation movement stating it as 'unamerican'
• 1960's liberalism made women's liberation lose support
• some didn't mind the call for equals but disagreed with contraception and abortion
• Phyllis Schlafly set up a group called 'stop ERA' to campaign against it in 1972

Gains and Limitations to advancement

Gains

• equal pay act + civil rights act
• a few states  allowed abortions for specific circumstances
• abortion federally legalised 1973 by the supreme court ruling
• contraception allowed to non-married women ruled by the supreme court after Eisenstadt v Baird case 192

Limitations

• 1972 equal rights act passed, 1982 15 states still refusing to ratify the ERA
• The USA didn't sign up to the 1979 united nations policy of introducing non-discrimination against women in all aspects of life
• Women's liberation movement disintegrated due to conservative opposition it faced
• Movement didn't represent all women and only represented middle class white women

How far did earlier immigration affect reactions to immigrants in early 1920's

• open door policy to immigration before ww1
• an average of 170,000 immigrants a year would enter the US after breaking from British rules
• 1882 650,000 immigrants entered the US 1902 it was 1.2 million
• Black Americans headed for northern cities
• Dillingham commission investigated  the impact of immigration on the US 1907-1911
• distinguished between old immigrants from Ireland and Germany who adapted to the new culture and society
• finding used to justify the immigration act in the 1920's including the emergency quota act 1921 which set limits on a number of immigrants
• post-war isolationism a factor causing the immigration acts of 1920's Red scare of 1919-1920 another factor
• gov tried to control rising hysteria by deporting thousands and introducing immigration laws

What was the effect of immigration in the 1920's

• each new wave of immigration came a wave of hostility from more established communities
• new immigrants created competition for jobs, housing, facilities of all kinds
• 1910 1.2% of US pop was Black 1920 4.1% were black
• 1920's legislation focused on immigration from Europe and Asian quota system didn't apply to south Americ

Immigration Legislation of the 1920's

• 1917 immigration act lists number of undesirable immigrants like homosexuals, insane and criminals and imposed literacy test for all over 16
• 1921 emergency quota act restricts yearly number of immigrants from any country to 3% of the total number of people living in the USA in 1910
• 1924 Jhonson-reed immigration act changed quota act to 2% of the people in the country of origin in the 1890 concensus
• 1929 National origins formula confirms the 150,000 limit and bans Asian immigrants altogether

what impact did immigrants have on Urban Life 1919-1941

• Most immigrants landed at Ellis island in NewYork immigrants significant factor in industry growth in most towns and cities
• The USA called melting pot due to its various different immigrant nationalities living there
• urban areas broke down into segregated section based on ethnic groups
• towns and cities had nicknames like 'little Italy' theses areas kept the Italian language and intense catholic religion. There were also 'Chinatowns' etc.
• Detroit ford motor factory had large immigrant workforce, mass production lead to greater production and most of its workers were from eastern Europe
• children born in the USA of immigrants parents were adding to the pop without being labelled as 'foreign born'
• immigrants got the worst jobs, lowest wages and worst living conditions
• immigrants had an effect on politics on a local, state and federal level
• during the depression, they voted mostly for Roosevelt

What impact did the ww2 have on immigrants

• once USA in war americans of italian, german and japanese nationality classed as enemys because of the pearl harbour attack
• buissness owers of the stated nationalities above had windows broken or customer shopped elsewhere
• hundreds of thousond 'enemy aliens' volenterred for the US military

Government policy and its consequences

• after ww2 1952 immigration and nationality act passed which still used quotas but did not allow refugees
• during the cold war, many refugee laws were put in to allow refugees from communist countries
• Fidel Castro seized Cuba  200,000 fled to the USA
• Kennedy against quota system and when he was assassinated he was working on an immigration law that would abolish quotas
• johnson brought Kennedy's bill to congress and it became law in 1965
• after the fall of Saigon in 1975, USA took 130,000 Vietnam refugees
• Mexico had an average of 600,000 illegal immigrants entering the US a year in the 1970's
• 1980 1 million illegal aliens found, arrested and deported
• in 1970 there were an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants in the USA

The social impact of cinema

• movies biggest entertainment media in USA 1917
• 1927 first 'talkie' shown in cinemas
• by 1941 nearly 10,500,000 cinema seats one for every 12.5 people
• movies gave people escapism  and fed people fantasies by developing genres with specific people like Clara Bow who had sex appeal
• 1925 Clara Bow made 15 movies and Clarke Gable made 8 in 1925
• Shirley temple was making $5,000 a week in 1930 when the average wage was under $2,000 a year
• Hays code 1929-30 no crimes in detail so cannot be copied, drug smuggling never showed, white slave trade not shown, family life portrayed as good, lustful activities kept minimal, no swearing, no nudity

The social impact of popular music and radio

• 1920's traditional music still listened to but in cities, jazz was more popular
• jazz dances developed like the charleston and black bottom but both sexually suggestive
• 1929 almost 50% of people had a record player and $75 million worth of records sold in 1929
• 1935 record sales dropped and radios picked up
• 1920's and 30's radio sales boomed
• the first commercial station broadcasted in 1920
• 1924 600 commercial radio stations
• radio advertisement was used to keep the radio stations going
• 1926 first national radio station (NBC) opened with a football game
• mass production made radios cheaper
• people felt a part of the mass culture all listening together

The social impact of television from the 1950's

• Roosevelt the first president on TV
• after ww2 Gov gave media businesses tax breaks to develop and sell tv sets
• TV was sponsored and had advertising
• after the ww2 baby boom advertising targeted to children was used to get children asking their mothers to buy 
• TV meant they could see politicians in action
• TV was good for politicians who spoke well like Kennedy but badly for Nixon who was awkward on air and not a good comunicater
• the public broadcasting act set up 1967 gov funded corporation for the public which set up the public broadcasting service (PBS)
• PBS channel was focused on educating and entertaining and was a liberal agenda
• 1967 Sesame street was aired on PBS and taught children about racial tolerance and sharing as well as counting and reading
• Kennedy v Nixon debates aired 1960
• M*A*S*H tv show presented issues to do with Vietnam war
• shows that represented black family life were comedies
• news programmes got more prime time spots

The influence of broadcast news, 1920-1980

• a voice sounded more authoritative with news rather than newsprint
• newspapers could show photos whereas radio could not
• Roosevelt used radio to talk to the nation in his fireside chats
• radio helped to settle the wall street crash crisis
• 1960's live coverage of the Cuban missile crisis
• the broadcasting company had final say about what was shown
• Vietnam war first war shown on TV
• media very important on the presidency
• jimmy carter saw to not be managing his policy making well media decided carter was incompetent  and seized upon events that underlined this
• media showed quarters brother to be involved in scandals and looked bad on Carter and also showed carter collapsing during a marathon which ended in carter losing his reelection