1. Chapter 27 Postwar America
Section 2
The Affluent Society

2. John Kenneth Galbraith
1958 – published The Affluent Society, claimed the U.S. and some others created an “economy of abundance.”

3. The Spread of Wealth The mechanization of farms increased.
Many Americans began working white-collar jobs, such as sales and management.
1956 – for the first time, white collar workers outnumbered blue-collar workers.

4. Multinationals
White-collar employees generally worked for large corporations, some expanded overseas.
Multinational corporations were located close to important raw materials and used cheaper labor forces, making them more competitive.

5. Multinational Corporations
The Coca-Cola Company
DaimlerChrysler AG
General Electric
Honda Motor Company
International Business Machines
McDonalds Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
Nintendo Company, Limited
Intel Corporation
Nokia Corporation
Siemens AG
Acer
Sony Corporation
Texas Instruments
Toyota Motor Corporation
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc

6. Franchises
The 1950s also had an increase in franchises, in which a person owns and operates one or several stores of a chain operation.

7. David Riesman
Wrote The Lonely Crowd – argued that the “inner-directed” man was giving way to the “other-directed” man, with concerns regarding company approval outweighing personal values.

8. William H. Whyte
Wrote The Organization Man which stated businesses wanted similarity to keep individuals from dominating.

9. The New Consumerism
The rise in luxury products led to the growth of more sophisticated advertising.
The advertising industry became the fastest growing industry in the U.S.

10. The Growth of Suburbia
Levittown, New York, one of the country’s earliest suburbs, was a mass-produced residential community led by Bill Levitt.
Some said it was the American dream, others said it was conformity.

11. The 1950s Family Families grew larger and women entered the workforce.
was known as the baby boom, in which 65 million children were born.
Even though women were expected to remain at home, the number of women who held jobs outside the home increased.

12. Technological Breakthroughs
1946 – scientists working for the U.S. Army developed on the the earliest computers.
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) – military calculations
Later, UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) – handled business data

13. ENIAC

14. UNIVAC

15. Medical Miracles
Polio epidemics swept the nation in the 1940s & 1950s.
Jonas Salk developed an injectable vaccine for polio.
Albert Sabin developed an oral vaccine for polio.

16. Jonas Salk

17. Albert Sabin

18. Conquering Space
October 1957 – Soviet Union launched the world’s first space satellite. (Sputnik)
January 1958 – U.S. launched its own.

19. Sputnik

20. Next: Section 3 Popular Culture in the 1950s
End of Section 2
Next: Section 3
Popular Culture in the 1950s