Conformity In The 1950s
When most people think of the 1950s in America they think of a fantasy life. People always say stuff like “I wish I was born lived in the 50s” or “Why can’t things still be like they were in the 50s?”. In reality, how much change and diversity was actually happening? Many historians often debate over whether the 1950s was really a time where America was coming together or falling apart. Some historians believe America was conforming and everyone was “the perfect family”; that life was perfect. Other historians believe that the 1950s was a time for deviancy; they believe that most parents could not control their rebellious teenagers. Elaine Tyler May convincingly and compelling argues that a culture of conformity developed and took root in
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In a chapter from her book, “Men and Women: Life in the Nuclear Cocoon”, May discusses how Americans targeted citizens who did not fit into the conformist ideal, such as unmarried men and women, gays, divorcees, teenager moms, etc. May argues about how after the Cold War the U.S. government put a target on homosexuals. May says how, “The word pervert was used to describe a wide range of individuals, from adults who engaged in same-sex consensual relationship to violent criminals who raped and murdered children” (Cobbs and Blum 333). Simply because homosexuals engaged in sexual activity that was not the ideal standard, they were categorized as criminals. Even the FBI got involved in the anticommunists crusade against homosexuals. They were seen as a security risks because the FBI believed they could easily be seduced or blackmailed. A mixture of U.S. government and culture of conformity targeted people who did not get married or families who chose not to have children, similar to what they did to gay Americans. These people were viewed as “immoral, unpatriotic, and pathological” (Cobbs and Blum 334). In the 1950s it was seen as deviant and selfish for a women not to bear children. The U.S. government not only investigated homosexuals as a security risk, but also investigated unmarried people and/or people without
In a chapter from her book, “Men and Women: Life in the Nuclear Cocoon”, May discusses how Americans targeted citizens who did not fit into the conformist ideal, such as unmarried men and women, gays, divorcees, teenager moms, etc. May argues about how after the Cold War the U.S. government put a target on homosexuals. May says how, “The word pervert was used to describe a wide range of individuals, from adults who engaged in same-sex consensual relationship to violent criminals who raped and murdered children” (Cobbs and Blum 333). Simply because homosexuals engaged in sexual activity that was not the ideal standard, they were categorized as criminals. Even the FBI got involved in the anticommunists crusade against homosexuals. They were seen as a security risks because the FBI believed they could easily be seduced or blackmailed. A mixture of U.S. government and culture of conformity targeted people who did not get married or families who chose not to have children, similar to what they did to gay Americans. These people were viewed as “immoral, unpatriotic, and pathological” (Cobbs and Blum 334). In the 1950s it was seen as deviant and selfish for a women not to bear children. The U.S. government not only investigated homosexuals as a security risk, but also investigated unmarried people and/or people without