The Second World War solved the Great Depression that has been affecting the economy

since 1929. Unemployment disappeared, thanks to war contracts; but also because of men

who enlisted. Every American wants a job during the war; can get one, and can gets high

wages. But there are no consumer goods to consume. So they just waited, and ended up eager

to spend their money – and this is how war triggered the consumer society: the Affluent

Society. A society where the private sector; businesses, middle-classes citizens, and the

privileged citizens, were all affluent. This essay will deal with the different aspects of this

affluent society and the affluent and non-affluent actors’ circumstances in it.

The Postwar American Economy …show more content…
Federal subsidies served to improve social security, increase wages, and

enhance other factors that would stimulate the country’s economy – life expectancy is

increasing and so death expectancy decreases; the workforce grows, and the GDP doubles. A

series of different factors led to the idea that all American citizens were going through an era

of abundance. And yet; Affluent society was a distinct paradox in itself as it was defined by

its unequaled prosperity but also by how it reinforced the engrained inequality and therefore

poverty.

It is worth noting that America experienced suburbanization – working class families who

entered an expanding social class, the middle class, would try to get to live out of the cities;

which introduced new living patterns for them. A majority of American families lived in this

society surrounded by a culture of abundance and leisure as they lived in the most productive

economy. Now that they did not have the same worries than before about their life necessities,

they would try to achieve a certain living ideal, which mainly consisted of owning a suburb

house and a car. Suburbs were extensions of the cities, meaning that citizens living …show more content…
Said party recreated itself around a new society and its

innovations; living in the suburbs implied them having a car for example. They were, after all,

the richest and healthiest generation ever.

Leaticia Li – Terminale 2ES1, 1OI1

As we just mentioned it, there is an inequality in this affluent society, but also more than a

single flaw. Firstly; sexual discrimination. With this reshaping of the social and economic

structure, middle class households idealized a white, domesticity that included women staying

at home to take care of the kids or the house chores. Hence not even considering having a

career or nothing else of the sort. Feminism did not exist anymore at that point. Of course;

racial disparity was still there, regarding black people, or Mexicans.... Cities, especially at the

center, were left to rot and become nests of poverty and crimes; and agricultural workers and

countryside citizens were also pushed to the cities by the new-suburbans. Postwar abundance

and spending did not reach all citizens equally. Actually, it was processes like suburbanization

that even emphasized inequality. To put it bluntly, the abundance correlated positively