Consensus+and+conformity

The Rise of Suburbia and Middle-Class America

 * Levittown = flight to the suburbs --> the "crabgrass frontier"
 * Suburbs grow 46% = 1/3 of population in 1960 live in suburbs
 * Baby boom = 19% population growth
 * Residential construction boom and consumer marketing boom (responses to Great Depression)
 * Some believe a classless society was created in the suburbs while others question this notion based on the "whiteness" of it all.
 * Two-car families and commuting develop into norms.
 * Malls and strip shopping centers begin sprouting up for the first time.
 * Space, privacy and freedom are glorified but so is family togetherness
 * Nuclear family is stressed more than extended family for first time in U.S. history
 * Role of wife and mother is glorified more and feminism declines
 * Working wives doubled = 40% of women worked, 1/3 of whom were married
 * Millions read Dr. Spock's //Baby and Childcare//
 * Religious attendance and affiliation rise, but many criticize the sterility of the religious environment
 * Education strains due to Baby Boom --> College attendance doubles
 * TV fosters conformity over creativity: excitement, glamor and instant success are driven by advertising