T1.A - Affluence And Urbanisation Flashcards
What aided the consumer boom?
Introduction of the credit card in 1950 by the dinners club
American Express introduced one in 1958
1960 sears had 10 million customers who bought on credit card
What happened to old retailers?
Replaced with out of town shopping centres
1945 only 8 shopping centres by 1960 risen to over 4,000
How did car ownership change free time?
1956 3,000 driven in cinemas built
1954 Ray Kroc brought rights to open Mac Donald’s
How did car ownership change America?
jobs etc
1/7 Americans worked in the car industry
Detroit car producing centre of the world
1955 America the first country where car was an every day product
1960 75% owned one 15% owned more than one
Why was the space race important to America?
Element of the Cold War
USSR launched Sputnik in 1957
1961 jfk announced plans to put man on the moon by the end of the 60s
Led to technology developing quickly
Helped create the ‘teenager’
Changes in jobs
Defense spending was cut from 1950-53 more money to create jobs
1960 twice as many women had jobs than in 1940
40% of women over 16 worked
On average Suburbia families earned 70% higher than before because of the growth of the service industry
By 1957 8 million people were employed by the federal government mostly white collar jobs
What was Levittown and how did it change America?
New suburb built in 1947
17,000 houses built
Cheap loans from veterans administration funded 30% of homes in the mid 1950s
By 1960 3/5 families owned homes
18 million had moved into the suburbs between 1950-60
Discriminated against blacks
How did the suburbs affect black Americans?
They moved in the cities to escape discrimination
Harlem and south bronx
White middle classes moved into the suburbs
Cities became overcrowded
Why did highway development happen and how?
Suburbs- people needed to travel into the cities for work
Between 1946-50 the number of cars increased by 133%
1956 national interstate and defence highways act
- 10 year programme
- $25 billion
- 42,500 miles built
What did the federal housing policy do?
Federal housing administration put restrictions on houses so they couldn’t be sold to black or Jews
The were forced to rent in the cities which became racial ghettos
