Chapter 28 the Affluent Society

Chapter 28 the Affluent Society

Chapter 28—The Affluent Society

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION I: What were some key features of the American economy after WWII?

I.“The Economic Miracle”

  1. Sources of Economic Growth—How much did the American economy grow after WWII?
  2. Government Spending—What factors contributed to the growth? What was the “baby boom” and how did it contribute?
  3. Suburban Growth—How much did suburbs grow after WWII? How did the growth of suburbs fuel other growth?
  4. The Rise of the Modern West—How did the western U.S. grow after WWII, and what factors helped it grow?
  5. The New Economics
  6. Keynesian Economics—What did Keynesian economics believe about the government’s role in the economy? What was “fiscal policy” and “monetary policy” and how could the government use them?
  7. Capital and Labor
  8. Corporate Consolidation—How did corporations consolidate during the 1950s? How was farming affected?
  9. The “Postwar Contract”—How did the good economic times affect workers?
  10. AFL-CIO—What was the AFL-CIO and how was it formed?
  11. Limited Gains for Unorganized Workers—What law made it difficult for other workers to organize?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION II: What were some important technological innovations after WWII?

II.The Explosion of Science and Technology

  1. Medical Breakthroughs
  2. Antibiotics—What were sulfa drugs and what did they do?
  3. Penicillin—What was penicillin? What other diseases were treated?
  4. Salk Vaccine—Why did Salk (and Sabin) become famous?
  5. Pesticides
  6. DDT—What did pesticides do? What was DDT?
  7. Postwar Electronic Research
  8. Invention of Television—What technological innovations made televisions (and other electronics) possible?
  9. Postwar Computer Technology
  10. UNIVAC—What was UNIVAC? What company grew to become the leader of the computer industry?
  11. Bombs, Rockets, and Missiles
  12. The Hydrogen Bomb—When did the U.S. detonate its first hydrogen bomb? How did the hydrogen bomb differ from the earlier atomic bomb? What challenge next faced the U.S. (and the Soviets)? What were ICBMs?
  13. The Space Program
  14. The Shock of Sputnik—What was Sputnik and when was it launched? How did the U.S. federal government react? What was NASA? Who was Yuri Gagarin? Who was John Glenn?
  15. The Apollo Program—What was the goal of the Apollo program? Why is Neil Armstrong famous?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION III: What were the social features of American prosperity in the 1950s?

III.People of Plenty

  1. The Consumer Culture—What factors allowed the consumer culture to grow? What products did consumers buy?
  2. The Landscape and the Automobile—How much did the popularity of the automobile increase from 1950-1980?
  3. Interstate Highways—Why was the Federal Highway Act of 1956 significant? What other affects did highways have on American society? What businesses were by-products of the spread of automobiles?
  4. Fast Food—How was the growth of fast food and the automobile related?
  5. The Suburban Nation
  6. “Levittown”—How much of the nation’s population lived in suburbs by 1960? How did William Levitt revolutionize home building? How racially diverse were suburbs (and what reasons account for this)?
  7. The Suburban Family
  8. “Prevailing Gender Roles Reinforced”—What was the accepted place for suburban women?
  9. The Birth of Television—Why was television so important? How much had television usage grown from 1946-1957?
  10. Social Consequences of Television—What were the social consequences of television?
  11. Television’s Homogenizing Message—What social messages were contained in television programming?
  12. Travel, Outdoor Recreation, and Environmentalism
  13. Organized Society and Its Detractors—What type of workers came to dominate the American workplace in the 1950s?
  14. The Beats and the Restless Culture of Youth
  15. The Beat Generation’s Critiques—Who were the “beats”? What was their message? Who were some famous beats? What the message of youth culture in the 1950s, and how did James Dean exemplify those qualities?
  16. Rock N’ Roll
  17. Elvis Presley—Why was Elvis Presley so popular?
  18. Rock n’ Roll’s Black Roots—How did rock n’ roll trace its roots to African American culture? Who were some famous African American rock n’ roll stars? Why was Dick Clark famous?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION IV: What groups were largely left out of the prosperity of 1950s America?

IV.The “Other America”

  1. On the Margins of the Affluent Society
  2. The Other America—What did the book The Other America research?
  3. Persistent Poverty—How much of America was persistently poor, and which groups bore most of the poverty?
  4. Rural Poverty
  5. Declining Agricultural Prices—What happened to farm populations after WWII? Why? What groups of farmers suffered most?
  6. The Inner Cities
  7. Black Urban Migration—How many blacks moved to cities during and after WWII (called the “Second Great Migration”)? What cities gained population because of this migration? What other minorities groups moved to cities during this time, and to what cities did they move? What happened to jobs in inner cities at the time that these minority groups were moving there?
  8. “Urban Renewal”—How did the government try to help inner cities at this time?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION V: What events helped spur the beginnings and early development of the American Civil Rights Movement?

V.The Rise of the Civil Rights Movement

  1. The Brown Decision and “Massive Resistance”
  2. Brown v. Board of Education—When was the Brown case decided, and what case did it overturn?
  3. “Separate by Equal Doctrine Overturned”—What were the facts of the Brown case? How did the court rule? What did the court rule in the Brown II decision?
  4. “Massive Resistance”—How did many white communities react to the Brown decision? What was “massive resistance”? By 1957, how much progress had school integration made? What options did whites in many communities take?
  5. Little Rock—What happened in Little Rock? How did President Eisenhower get involved?
  6. The Expanding Movement—Who was Rosa Parks and what happened to her?
  7. Montgomery Bus Boycott—What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Why was it successful? Who became the leader of the boycott?
  8. Martin Luther King’s Strategy—What strategy did MLK use, and from whose teachings did he draw? What group did he found? Who was Jackie Robinson and why was he important?
  9. Causes of the Civil Rights Movement—What caused the Civil Rights Movement to begin when it did?
  10. Legacy of WWII—How did World War II affect black attitudes?
  11. Urban Black Middle Class—How did the existence of an urban black middle class affect the movement? How did television affect the movement? How did the Cold War affect white supporters of the movement? How did blacks affect the Democratic Party?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION VI: What were some major domestic features of Eisenhower’s presidency?

VI.Eisenhower Republicanism—What kind of politics did Eisenhower follow?

  1. “What was Good for General Motors…”
  2. Business Leaders’ New Outlook—How had business leaders changed their outlook since the 1920s?
  3. Survival of the Welfare State
  4. Federal Highway Act of 1956—Why was the Federal Highway Act of 1956 significant? Who won the election of 1956?
  5. The Decline of McCarthyism
  6. Army-McCarthy Hearings—What led to the downfall of Joseph McCarthy?

BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION VII: What were some major foreign policy events during Eisenhower’s presidency?

VII.Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Cold War—How has the focus of the superpowers begun to change?

  1. Dulles and “Massive Retaliation”—Who was John Foster Dulles?
  2. Economic Benefits of “Massive Retaliation”—What was “massive retaliation” and what were the economic benefits of it?
  3. France, America, and Vietnam—How was the Korean War resolved (at least temporarily)?
  4. Dien Bien Phu—What was going on in Vietnam and what did Eisenhower’s advisors want him to do?
  5. Cold War Crises
  6. Recognizing Israel—How and when was Israel formed? How did Palestinian Arabs react? What actions did the CIA take in Iran (and why)?
  7. Suez Crisis—What was the Suez Crisis, who was involved, and how was it resolved? How was the CIA involved in Guatemala (and why)?
  8. Fidel Castro—What American interests existed in Cuba? Who was Fidel Castro? What led to his close relations with the Soviet Union?
  9. Europe and the Soviet Union—What happened in Hungary in 1956, and how did the U.S. react?
  10. The U-2 Crisis—What was the U-2 crisis?
  11. Eisenhower’s Restraint—What did Eisenhower warn American about in his farewell address?
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