Australian Women's Weekly Analysis

In the 1950’s, women were working and being transformed into the American housewife, while their husbands went off to corporate careers. In Ingalls and Johnson, women were said to have careers however, could only succeed at “motherhood substitute jobs” such as teaching, nursing, administrative assistive, and social work (I&J, 51). This culture portrayed woman as only being capable of household jobs. When looking for the perfect suburban home, General Electric said women would head straight for the kitchen because this was where she would be spending most of her time. General Electric’s Wonder Kitchen made it even easier for women to save time, space, and work, allowing for wives to have more leisure time. The Chase & Sanborn advertisement reinforces the culture of women having to do everything to please their husbands. The picture on the ad depicts a man spanking his wife across his lap because she disappointed him with flat and stale coffee. Not only are women conforming to this domestically pleasing life style, but men also had

After World War II, the nation was blooming. Everything was growing, people were going to college, and wealth grew. The idea of the perfect American life was developed, this included a husband that worked and a wife that stayed home and took care of the house and children. To look at how women are affected by this perfect life I am analyzing “Governor Adlai Stevenson Tells College Women about Their Place in Life, 1955” and “Good Housekeeping: Every Executive Needs a Perfect Wife, 1956”.

In her arguments, Berry uses Clarks’ and Sorel’s modern advertisement to describe the more realistic descriptions of beauty standards. I found Berry’s argument quite convincing because of her example of anti-women shunning adverting. In Clarks’ ad, they promote a

The new advertisements focused on creating unique slogan that consumers would remember and that cast products in an optimistic light (N.p. [Page 1]). By the 1880s, advertisement seems to take on a driving aspect of its own, and focused on the creation of “wants” and “needs” in the growing consumer population in order to create a market for certain items, clever businessmen would advertize products in careful language, designed to influence potential buyers into seeing the necessity of owing particular products. Economic effects on society, especially in Americans families, became apparent during the twentieth century. The place of women in the new economy was firmly cemented in the early decades of the twentieth century, with the rise of Progressivism and supply and demand economics (N.p. [Page #]). Progressive reformers and businessmen alike appealed to and propagated the idea of virtuous households, carrying a theme from the culture of sentimentalism in the 1850s that stressed the value of nuclear families with morally upright - if submissive - mothers. Many of the advertisements seen in this collection are clearly directed at women .The foundations of household economy were raised in the early twentieth century and during the World War I era. Home economy, in theory, allowed the housewife to make the most of finances, so that her family could purchase current

Through the major influences of mass consumption within domesticity roles in Australian and American families, materialistic items including the family car and the introduction of the television where perceived as the central element of the family during the post-war period. Within America during the 1950’s, there was a sudden rise of new home building causing a major influence within the economy as families, especially middle class families were receiving an improved income under the leadership of President Truman , allowing families to indulge in materialist items including the family car. Through Cold war threats and anxieties American ideas of domesticity where shaped around the concept of the American dream which was expressed within American film, television and literature to ease these pressures .

Living the American dream was a part of the road to Suburbia. As soldiers were returning home from the wars, births were reaching record highs known as the baby boom. Just in the year 1957, a total of 4,308,000 babies were born.4 Desiring large families and great economic prosperity, the women’s role as mother and homemaker were built-up in movies and television and magazines. Ultimately, with additional “leisure time” at home, Americans bought televisions, nice record players, lawn mowers and other electronic products. Manufactures and advertising agencies jumped at the opportunity to profit on consumerism. “More and more, ad executives and designers turned to psychology to create new strategies for selling. Advertisers appealed to people’s desire for status and “belongingness” and strived to associate their products with those values.”5 The Baby Boomers that began the consumerism in the mid-1950’s socially altered the United States then and still do

The suburb was a major contributing factor to the women’s return to normalcy. The increase of baby booms and the return of men into their jobs seemed to fit women perfectly into the “home life” (“People & Events: Mrs. America: Women's Roles in the 1950s”).

The experiences of Australian women in both World War 1 and World War 2 were similar but also different. WWI was fought from 1914 to 1918, and WW2 was fought from 1939 to 1945. These were the biggest military conflicts in the history of man. The main areas of change in Australian women around these times were employment, roles and positions in the war, and the attitudes towards women at these times. In WW1, the main occupation for Australian women was nursing. In World War 2, however, women were given the opportunity to do ‘a man’s job’ for the first time.

Before reading the excerpts from “The Overspent American” I was not familiar with Juliet Schor’s work. While reading however, I saw that her views were different from many of the other authors that we have read so far. When I had finished the reading I found the reading enjoyable and fascinating. The reason that her writing intrigued me was because of her multiple perspectives while writing. Not only does she concentrate on the economics of American people, but she also uses a sociologist lens to show the purchasing habits of our culture. “The Overspent American” focuses on how we as a society have changed our spending patterns from the past. During the 1950s the phrase “keeping up with the Jones’” was coined and it represented Americans trying to outspend their neighbors and friends. For example, my friend buys a boat and I also need to buy a boat to make sure my friends saw me as being wealthy. Today our society as changed in many ways but Schor finds that our spending habits have altered the most since the 1950s. By analyzing and evaluating her work, one can see how Americans spending habits have changed over time and how our economics have been overtaken by television and broadcast media.

The American lifestyle improved with the new homes, and new technology. Consumer goods played an important role in middle-class life during the postwar era. Adults participated eagerly in the consumer economy, using new-fangled credit cards and charge accounts to buy things like televisions, hi-fi systems and new cars. Items such as refrigerators, washing machines, and black-and-white televisions became common appliances. The availability of TVs in homes increased the opportunities for marketing through commercials, which added to Americans’ desire to have the best and latest technology. Marketing through commercials is how manufacturers and marketers caught the eyes on another group of shoppers as well: the millions of relatively affluent boomer children, many of whom could be persuaded to participate in all kinds of consumer

Wilks 1 Stephanie Wilks His 1050 Sec 201 April 10, 2010 Roland Marchand and Kelly Schrum: Critical Analysis of Consumerism Post WW II American was a place full of optimism and fear. The American people had survived 20 years of depression and war to find new prosperity and an increase in mass production of goods and services that improved quality of life. This meant better times for Americans, but fears over the Cold War, threat of an evermore intrusive American government and loss of individualism existed as well. These high expectations and anxieties played a great deal into how people consumed. Eventually these factors combined with aggressive advertising marketing, with the help of media (mainly TV), led to the emergence of a whole new

In order to answer the question, the role and impact of print and television during the time period will be studied and evaluated. Advertisements from the 1950’s played an important role in making young women feel that if one did not get married, one was unlovable. A comparison between marketing strategies from the 1930’s and 1940’s will be made to those from the 1950’s. Magazine article content also changed from current events and education to cosmetics, fashion, and marriage advice. The significance behind this change is analyzed along with the profound impact of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan on women stuck in the suburbs. Interviews from wives during the 1950’s will be assessed and secondary sources will be used in order to provide an outside perspective on the argument.

Society in America during the 1950’s was one that portrayed men and women in very different, but rigid roles. Women were housewives, secretaries, and mothers. Men were providers, war heroes, and businessmen. Television, newspapers and magazines played an important role as well in determining ways men and women should behave. Advertisements for real estate were designed to sell to the “All-American” family. For example; Dad would be the returned home veteran who is now running the company, Mom is an ideal housewife who works a couple days a week for extra vacation cash, little Billy likes baseball and his sister Susie plays with dolls. Houses designed with this type of family in mind would prove very effective in

The desire to achieve the American Dream was an important ideal in the 1950’s and many families modeled themselves after what they saw on television. Once television sets began to be a staple in an average family’s living room, the family changed. Television shows depicted the “perfect” image of an American family. One with a mother, father, son and daughter, a “nuclear” family. The mother was most often times depicted as a housewife, with the husband a breadwinner, coming home late and having to scold the children, most times ending with a chuckle from a studio audience.

Throughout much of the early 20th century, women were regarded as traditional housewives. The role of a typical American woman was quite simple, compared to the standardized 21st century female; her job was to conceive children, take care of any household cleaning duties, and make sure her husband was happy. At the time, both parties were happy; the husband would go off to work and the spouse would reside at home; no worries. However, the economic downfall of the United States, ever so infamously called The Great Depression, eventually shined an immense light on the flaws of the lives in most American middle-class households.