There were a number of reasons that lead to the prosperity of the Americans during the 1950s. One of the reasons included people marrying at early ages, leading to high birth rates and as a result, expanding the consumer culture. In addition, the reason why the population expanded rapidly during that time was as a result of dominant rules concerning the gender roles; women were supposed to stay at home and look after the family and men’s role was to attend college education. As such, this form of gender relation were celebrated with soaring birth rates; leading to an expanded consumer culture. In terms of technology and suburbanization, televisions were bought by many Americans, further increasing the consumption rates. Furthermore, even people who were living in poverty bought items that placed them in the same class as the middle-income earners. In that response, four out of every five families owned a refrigerator and also had a car regardless of whether they were well-off or worse-off (Roark 828). Robert Samuelson, a journalist in 1950s noted that the American consumer culture was also accelerated by people’s desire for material thing since most of them were middle-income earners. As a result, most Americans opted for ranch-style houses in the suburbs; making the national product to increase by 25 percent (Roark 827).

In another dimension, this high rate of consumption also had some influence on culture and the society. The dominant ideology that dominated the traditional family was that the men were the breadwinners, they were perceived to be the homemakers and the ideal family had three to four children. Television transformed the idea of women depending on men and bred the culture of feminisms-women dominance. The television show, “I Love Lucy”, for example, influenced women by showing female characters who always wanted to get around their husbands by searching for jobs on their own (Roark 829). Overall, the new technology led to a society of status seekers (Roark 820).

Works Cited

Roark, James L. American Promise, 4th Edition, Volume 2 & Historyclass, 4th Edition, Volume

2. 2. New York, NY: Bedford Books, 2009. Print.