What We Really Miss bout the 1950s

"What We Really Miss About the 1950s" is an excerpt from one of Stephanie Coontz's works titled "The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families". In this excerpt Coontz explores the ideas and circumstances that usually place the 1950s as one of the best decades for families in the United States. Many things influence our romantic view of the 1950's. Popular culture including TV programs that showed the "ideal" American family were a powerful force in shaping peoples opinion of what the perfect family was. The economic and social situations of the 1950s allowed time for reflection and focus on the family. There were growths in our industry and economy that created jobs. After World War II many young couples started to marry and have children. A majority of women spent their time raising and caring for their families and homes and many Fathers were the families breadwinners again. This would eventually lead to tension as many women desired to return to the work force, but throughout most of the 50s family roles were well defined. This allowed parents to spend more time with their children than in previous decades. Homes were affordable and most Americans sought home ownership. All of these factors contribute to our idealistic view of the 1950's. However, despite all of the good of this period there were still huge problems.

Racism was rampant in the 1950s and many Americans felt excluded from the "white" society of the time. Race and gender issues would come to a head in later especially as the economy begins to decline. I believe that as humans we tend to look at the past through foggy glass. We think of past times as good or bad. Generally speaking people look back and the 1950s fondly and tend to remember only the good parts. We have done this with other periods in our history. Pirates of the 1700s for example have been romanticized and popularized in our culture. In fact the time periods in which piracy was widespread were some of the dark and desperate times in our history. All things considered though, the 1950s seems to have had a good balance of factors that may have made it a good time to live in and grow up in. Families spent more time together, the economy was improving, the war was over and the cold war had yet to come, and Americans were working hard to establish the sort of culture and families we wanted to have.