American Life After The Second World War

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

In John Patrick Diggin’s essay, "A Decade to Make One Proud," he effectively illustrates the course of American life through the combination of social, cultural, political, and diplomatic lens. Diggins points out that the 1950s and the ‘60s were a defining era in the nation’s history. This time period was indeed very crucial, one that shaped the national culture and told Americans a great deal about themselves than the troubled decade that was to follow.

As Diggins demonstrates in the essay, nowhere was the transformation more dramatic than in the social context, which was produced by the dispersion of economic abundance. Diggins asserts, not only did the Second World War end The Great Depression but also redistributed wealth from the upper to the middle classes. This allowed the majority of the American society to have a much more comfortable life than they ever had in the past, and lead to the baby boom along with the massive phenomenon of the suburban life.

Changes in society were not only economical, but cultural as well. People in the fifties were more educated and had a new sense of aspirations. Moreover, they married at younger ages, had more buying power, and enjoyed more material pleasure than before. Diggins also suggests that prosperity filtered the nation into the mass media and popular culture with rising stars such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Lastly, Diggins describes the political climate of the time, implying that Americans had a got a great sense of pride under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower.

In the essay, "The Way We Never Were," Stephanie Coontz criticizes the stereotype about the American families. She puts forth a convincing argument that trying to resolve family problems now by looking at an ideal that never actually existed in American history prevents our capability to deal with problems confronting modern families. Coontz builds a different image of the changing structure in the American families by disparaging the existing myth. She examines the American family life during the 1900’s and eradicates the misconception about the past, which has afflicted the present scenario in the American families.

Coontz points out that majority of American families have always been male-predominate throughout history. Men were depicted as family providers, whereas the responsibilities of the women were limited to home. Women were always forced to stay at home to run the family and to take care the children. Coontz believes that the increasing number of teenage pregnancies and abortions during the ‘50s has attribute to the gender inequality and role reversal in the families.

One of the most damaging myths debunked in Coontz’s essay is the concept that feminism and the incorporation of women into the workforce caused the collapse families. By tracing the period when the entry of women into the workforce sprung from the early 1900’s to the 1970’s, Coontz demonstrates how women’s increasing involvement in the workforce was already conventional and hindered the growth of feminism.

To counter the myth that families in the past were ideal, Coontz takes the initiative of depicting the real picture with a comparison between families in the past and present.

She claims that domestic violence, drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy were more extensive in the ’50 and the ‘60 than today. Due to the prejudice and gender inequality, marriages lasted a shorter time than they do now.

After World War II, the fifties advanced into a decade of major social and cultural transformation. This era is often characterized as incredibly content, prosperous, and stable. The American culture was having a baby boom, a suburban movement, and life for many became at ease. Although, there was a major society in America that no one cared to talk about. Michael Harrington, a sociologist reformer advocates for the poor that were "out of sight" during this time period.

Harrington provides an aggressive view on the poverty platform during the 1950s. This was post World War II era, where some parts of America experienced economic prosperity and in other areas, where Harrington believed that poverty was hidden and ignored to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine. Demonstrated in the essay, "Michael Harrington Unveils "the Other America" Outside Suburbia, 1961," he illustrates an "invisible society" inflicted with poverty. Harrington implicitly criticizes The United States Government and places the blame on the ignorant affluent society for not solving the poverty epidemic in the country. Harrington also refutes the conventional view that the poor existed due to their own failures.  He strongly believes that at the time poverty was both more adamant and more boundless than most Americans presumed and it was up to the government and the prosperous to ultimately combat the poverty epidemic.

Harrington resiliently claims that poverty isn’t an outcome of individual failure rather it is produced by society and we are all too ignorant to see that aspect of society. During the time frame in which Harrington published The Other America, United States lacked social institutions and programs that we have today to help those in need. During this era, not only did states lack funding for social institution but states and citizens did not even acknowledge poverty as a major issue. In fact they ignored it and gradually the issue of poverty became "invisible" and people living in poverty moved to isolated areas, thus creating a "culture of poverty."

Harrington ultimately sheds some light in his book about the issues needed to be tackled when dealing with poverty. He goes on to state that not only do people living in poverty become economically unstable but also politically and socially unstable. Arguably, they have no voice in social and political platforms. Harrington argues that not only is poverty a symbol of economic instability it is also a face of prejudice. He states that people faced with poverty do not belong to any major affiliated groups, political, fraternal nor do they have any legislative programs to voice their opinions. Effectively, they become the minorities and are tormented by loneliness. 

Some of the member of the "poverty culture" at the time included unskilled workers, migrant farm workers, the elderly, and the youth. Harrington affirms that "the poor are the wrong age to be seen." The elderly were often sick and could not move, yet there were no health insurance programs by the federal or state government in effect to provide free healthcare for them. Even when the cities had transformed, the poor still resided in the central areas with miserable housing and they were virtually isolated from everyone else.

Harrington states, "The American Poor are pessimistic and defeated, and they are victimized by mental suffering to a degree unknown in Suburbia…." He provides an insight of how the affluent suburban society ignored even the idea of a "poor culture" living in the same nation as fellow citizens while he expresses, "Here is a great mass of people, yet it takes an effort of the intellect and will even to see them…" Furthermore, as the poor were "invisible," their "invisibility" permitted government officials to disregard their welfare and encourage universal indifference amongst the common society. The poor did not have any voice in the political sector as well. Harrington finds ironic that such an advanced country has outcasts whom cannot speak for themselves.

Harrington provides one of the most focal reasons for the poor to remain in the dark, which is "Clothes make the poor invisible too: America has the best-dressed poverty the world has ever known." Here, Harrington points to the benefits of mass production for the best dressed poverty in the world. He further claims that it was much easier to seem prosperous or well dressed than have housing or healthcare.

Harrington expands past the economic reasons to get rid of poverty. He argues that is it morally condemnable that a nation such as the United States, with vast resources, should allow poverty to persist. Harrington asserts that such an affliction is a disgrace. He also negates the conservative belief that providing for the poor and establishing institutions to secure them out of poverty is too costly. The United States contains an outcast nation ad it is critical that the "culture of poverty" be acknowledged. Such a declaration denotes that if the nation as a whole can be changed, then the nation will certainly shape the culture.