What We Really Miss About The 1950s Summary

When I read “What We Really Miss About the 1950’s”, Stephanie Coontz provides many data and reports to support the positive side and negative sides of the 1950’s. On my first impression, the 1950’s sounded a pretty good era. People just get through the World War II. Many young men came back home or just build their new home.After so many years, American people can do everything at once again. However,every coin has two sides.Some heavy things such as racism, woman’s rights,and McCarthyism. I have to ask myself a question “ Do we really miss those old days?”. Or more specific, “why some time we said those old days are good?”. I do want to argue which era is the best. I just want to focus on why sometime people said old days are better and we

A common saying people have embedded in our minds is that the past between 1950s and 1960s is considered as “The Good Ol’ Days” or “The Golden Age.” These assumptions were made due to the prosperity and growth of the nation however the truth is that many Americans felt disadvantaged. After WWII women became confined to the home where they were expected to care for the family. Many housewives did not like these conditions because they felt as though they were slaves in their own little worlds by losing rights they had gained during the war. The only work women were wanted for was for cooking, cleaning, laundering, sewing, taking care of children, etc. Many women became discouraged due to the fact they no longer felt important in society.

When most people think of the 1950’s or 1960’s, they think of Elvis, Greasers, jukeboxes, Woodstock, and rainbow peace signs and hippie love. Although these symbols are somewhat accurate (and very popular), not many people think about the changes society and culture went through. The 1950’s and 60’s were a time of great change and freedom for many Americans. Everything from World War II, to the gay liberation movement, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped to change society. Many of the views American’s had on topics such as war, gender roles and sexual preference were changed greatly after these events and have led to our culture being what it is today. The 1950’s and 1960’s were a time where great changes took place that helped to

Throughout recent history, the fifties proved to be the most interesting to me because not only was it a time of great economic expansion; but it was also known as a period where current citizens and leaders of the United States frowned upon. The “Golden Age” proved to be one of the most outbreaking movements of the industrial age. This period in American history gave citizens of the United States access to a better standard of living, transformed American agriculture, and brought the rise of the suburban nation. Remarkably, the employment rate for women had skyrocketed during the year of 1955 proving that

As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the

The 1950s and the 1960s had many similarities, though they had many differences as well. Their similarities and differences include: the politics, the economy, the society, and the culture of both decades. In the 1950s, North Korea moved into South Korea and began a civil war between the two parallel countries. The reason for this dispute was the border lines as well as guerrilla fighting in the South, which created a greater tension on the issue. The reason why the U.S entered the Korean War was so that the Soviet Union would not gain another nation and, in turn, more power. Like the 50s, our country was also at war with another country in the 60s. This time, the U.S was at war with Vietnam. The U.S entered the war because the

World War II had just ended. Women that were working because their husbands were out fighting in the war came back home when the war ended. The 1940’s ended and it was time for a new decade. The 1950’s were looked as a state of mind or a way of living instead of another time in American history. The 1950’s were the most influential decade in American history because the civil rights act began, fashion was completely new and trendy there were more much advancement in entertainment and medicine, and suburban life was much more functional than any other decade in America.

Coontz analyses both the weakness and strengths of the period and takes a ‘sarcastic’ approach. She is able to indicate the ideal time for the Americans pointing positive outlooks such as education, birthrate, economic expansion, jobs, family oriented culture and social environment. Her weakness about the myth of the 1950s includes teen pregnancies, poverty, marital problems, discrimination, racial and gender inequalities. She attacks the political system who continues states the goods of the 1950s but the politicians have not created and advanced the ideals and optimism of the 1950s. She categorically attacks the perceptions of people saying the 1950s was good even though when compared to the freedoms and engagements of these days, the 1950s’ thinkers are misplaced. The following quote summarizes her perspective, “This confidence that almost everyone could look forward to a better future stands in sharp contrast to how most contemporary Americans feel, and it explains why a period which many people were much worse off than today sometimes still looks like a better period for families than our own” (p. 40). Based on the historical and available information, Coontz argument may suffice because currently, nobody thinks about the future since the economic and social challenges are immense. The optimism is absent while challenges of discrimination, prejudice are fading. Hence, the article cleverly covers the

The values of the modern American society have changed drastically from how they were sixty years ago, in the 1950s. The values of today’s society consist of relationships (social), appearances (clothes), and items of possessions (technology).

With the overwhelming amount of Levittown houses, the obsession to obtain the perfect American “ideal family” as seen on TV and the unspoken agreement to fear any and all foreign ideas and values, the 1950s were revealed to be a decade of prosperity, conformity and consensus. Just ten years later the atmosphere in America was shockingly different; the 1960s were a decade of turbulence, protest and disillusionment due to the ongoing struggle for civil rights, arising feminism, and the Vietnam War.

The American family has gone through monumental changes throughout the past century, or perhaps it is merely society’s perception that has evolved. These radical changes in American family structure can be seen as a result of socialization by entertainment media, particularly television programming. Since its inception in the late 1920s and especially since the 1950s when it began to overtake radio programming as America’s number one form of home entertainment, the television has provided individuals with a window into worlds beyond their own (Stephens). As a result, these other worlds then begin to slowly seep into everyday practices and beliefs. Many Americans may look to television programs as an example of how their own life and family

The society in the 1950s was developing from the previous years where women now had to leave their jobs and their freedom to come back home to cook for their family, veterans came back home to a new world, and children were finally able to get family time. After the end of the war both in the European side and the Pacific, the Americans would have been celebrating and have a boosting economy providing jobs for many men who came back from war. It could be seen from the new inventions that the US now had money to spend on the new luxuries for the comfort and wellbeing of the society. The change in the society has impacted the lives of the women, men, and children through their daily lives and even medicine and law.

So today and the 1950s were different in a lot of ways, but they were also similar in ways to. But they were not similar in many ways. The ways are having segregation and discrimination, unequal schools. However, there are no segregated schools today. The whites are blacks were separate in everything but no they do everything together, the fashion. The conditions of the schools were bad but now the schools are in good condition.

The decade of the 1950s represents an era where life was balanced, simple, and innocent. A time in the American history where a high school education promised a comfortable living and where family values were presented to audiences through television shows. In the article, Coontz argues that the simplicity and innocence that the people who lived in this time period enjoyed came at a high price. Coontz claims that generally those who felt that the 1950s was the "best time for children to grow up" would show their dislike for the treatment of women. They also would add that they would not particularly enjoy living with the most "of the fathers they knew in their neighborhoods." She also points out the economic and social reasons why the 1950s is so appealing to quite a lot of people. There were lower divorce rates, federal economic expansion programs, corporate tax programs, and

The 1950’s were a decade of great change in various ways. For example the American minorities, the women, and other outspoken ethnic and other groups of society, decided to stand up and fight for their rights. The Great War had ended, and men were coming back home. As this happened the demand for economic homes increased, and families began having children due to the economical stability and prosperity in which the United States of America was amidst. The nationwide home demand gave birth to one of the most comfortable and affordable ways of living: The suburban home. These neighborhoods were planned for young middle-upper class families who wanted to have, or already had children. These families were living the