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| A Typical 1950s Family |
Apart from the Baby Boom, a housing boom was a huge part of the 1950s upward trend. Prefabricated houses flaunted previously-unseen features in regular homes that were in the price range for many families. Heating in homes were done mostly by coal in the 1950s before utility gas became the primary heating source in the 1960s. Unfortunately, complete plumbing consisting of hot/cold water, shower, and a flush toilet only existed in about half these houses.
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| Prefab Homes in the 1950s |
At dinnertime, all members of the family would sit together and eat. It was the mother's responsibility to By the end of the decade, most families had a TV in their living room, so they would watch a show together while having dinner. Unlike our lives today, there was only one TV in the entire house and one home phone. Therefore, children were more attached to their parents than they are today. The 1950s were also the days when children could stay late at a friend's house nearby and walk home without being thrust into danger. Common places for older kids to hang out after school were soda shops and casual diners.
Compared to 2017, family life was very different back in the 1950s. Gender roles that restricted both men and women have drastically changed and the definition of "family" has become more flexible. A traditional makeup of a mom, a dad, and a child is not the only structure we see today. Children and especially teenagers have much more freedom in the Silicon Valley as a lot of us have cars and an increased range of mobility in our neighborhoods.
Source:
http://fiftiesweb.com/pop/info-family/
Interesting read on 1950s family life! Adding on to what you mentioned about flexibility in a typical family, women especially gained more freedom because those who were working were usually in part-time jobs. Also, the invention of frozen TV dinners made it more convenient and was a time-saving way for women to feed their families. With these two factors, this meant that housewives could not only take care of their children, but also be able to have more time to go out to explore new, farther areas with the car, which became an important symbol of freedom for all people around this era.
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I wonder if divorce rates went up amongst couples married in the 1950's once social stigma around divorce wore down. It's also interesting how much of today's suburban sprawl came around during this time period. Lastly, I think it's interesting how perhaps criticism of this new American way of life might have been suppressed in the name of anti-Communism, and the embrace of a rapidly growing consumer culture was made easier by the political climate.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, there were great social pressure for men and women to get married and live together peacefully after the chaos of WWII. A great of this pressure ties into the suburban life. All of the houses were built the same way, and family life essentially evolved around the same things. Maybe because of this, people felt that they needed to be the same way as other married couples.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post about family life in the 1950s. I like how you compared life back then to life today; it really puts into perspective how much more freedom we have as teens today. As we talked about in class, much of the need for stability came from the adults, for, after living through the Great Depression and World War II, they wanted to have a stable, dependable life. By wanting this, did they solidify gender roles and stereotypes to obtain that constant rhythm of life? For more information about this idea, go to: http://repository.mnu.edu/sites/default/files/MNU_student_Hagedorn_1950s_Family_seniorthesis.pdf
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