CULTURE After 1945 [APUSH Review Unit 8 Topic 5] Period 8: 1945-1980

Summary

In this edition of Heimler's History, we dive into the transformation of American culture from 1945 to 1980, highlighting the maintenance and challenges to mass culture. The era saw television becoming a core medium for fostering a homogeneous culture, with popular shows shaping shared values and societal norms. Meanwhile, rock and roll music became a symbol of youthful rebellion, even as its roots in the Black community were appropriated by white artists. Simultaneously, a segment of the population, including the Beat Generation poets and writers like J.D. Salinger, critiqued and rebelled against cultural conformity, calling for authenticity and spontaneity in life and art.

Highlights

• Mass culture was spread through television shows like 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Father Knows Best' 🏠.
• Advertising exploited emotions for belonging and status, driving consumer culture with new credit systems 💰.
• Rock and roll music resonated deeply with the younger generation, symbolizing rebellion and change 🎤.
• The Beatniks challenged cultural conformity with free-form poetry and a call for a free, spontaneous life 🌟.
• J.D. Salinger critiqued mass culture in 'The Catcher in the Rye', focusing on youth disillusionment 📚.

Key Takeaways

• Television became a pivotal medium for spreading mass culture in the post-1945 era, similar to radio's role in previous decades 📺.
• The advertising industry boomed by appealing to emotional needs and offering credit cards, creating a culture of consumption 💳.
• Rock and roll, with origins in the Black community, became a mass culture phenomenon among youth, despite resistance from older generations 🎸.
• The Beat Generation, including poets like Jack Kerouac, represented a significant cultural counter-movement, advocating for spontaneity and authenticity ✍️.
• J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" critiqued the phoniness of mass culture through its disillusioned protagonist 📖.

Overview

Post-1945 America witnessed the rise of mass culture, largely through television, which became a central medium in American households. Shows like 'Leave it to Beaver' showcased the idealized family structure, promoting a set of shared values and societal norms. Television not only unified American culture but also became a tool for the burgeoning advertising industry, which capitalized on consumerism fueled by the era's economic prosperity.

As televisions turned on across America, a new sound erupted: rock and roll. Originating in the black community, this genre surged in popularity among the youth, signaling a cultural shift and rebellion against older societal values. Despite its crossover appeal with artists like Elvis Presley, rock and roll was initially met with skepticism by older generations, serving as a musical backdrop to the growing division between young and old.

While mass culture thrived, so did its challengers. The Beat Generation, with figures like Jack Kerouac, pushed against cultural norms with their avant-garde poetry and literature. Works like J.D. Salinger’s 'The Catcher in the Rye' echoed this sentiment, portraying the struggles of a youth disenchanted by the superficiality of their environment. The era, thus, was a dynamic interplay of conforming mass culture and its spirited challengers.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The 'Introduction' chapter of the video series 'Heimlich's History,' which focuses on unit 8 of the AP U.S. History curriculum, sets the stage for discussing changes in American culture post-1945. The chapter highlights the primary learning objective: to explain the maintenance and challenges of mass culture during this period. The introduction outlines three key components of this cultural analysis: mass culture itself, the mechanisms that maintained it, and the forces that challenged it.
• 00:30 - 02:30: Mass Culture and Conformity The chapter discusses the concept of mass culture and conformity in America, highlighting how societal pressures such as McCarthyism influenced Americans to adhere to a homogeneous set of ideas and behaviors. The fear of communism led to a culture where being labeled a non-conformist could raise suspicions of being an enemy of the state. Beyond these pressures, the chapter also implies that other factors contributed to the spread of mass culture by the late 1950s, with nearly 90% of households involved.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Spread of Mass Culture through Television and Advertising The chapter discusses the role of television in the spread of mass culture in American households. It highlights how television, like radio before it, became a key platform for public engagement, with a few networks dominating content that included sports, sitcoms, soap operas, and variety shows. It notably mentions beloved suburban sitcoms such as 'Leave It to Beaver' and 'Father Knows Best,' which depicted the ideal American family. These programs were popular because they resonated with the general public and portrays traditional family dynamics with working fathers, homemaking mothers, and well-mannered, but slightly cheeky children.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Rock and Roll's Impact The chapter titled 'Rock and Roll's Impact' delves into how television and advertising shaped mass culture in America. It highlights that television helped create a common language and shared values, while advertising capitalized on the economic prosperity of the middle class. Advertisers increasingly targeted emotional needs for belonging and status, presenting their products as solutions to these desires.
• 05:00 - 06:30: Cultural Challenges: Beatniks and Literature The chapter explores the cultural shift in America as credit cards become a common means for people to purchase more than they could afford, enabling a consumer culture to thrive. Concurrently, the rise of rock and roll music symbolized a significant cultural shift, appealing predominantly to the younger generation while being largely rejected by the older demographic. This music became a key element in spreading mass culture among youth.
• 06:30 - 07:30: Conclusion and Call to Action The chapter explores the racial roots and transitions in music post-1945, focusing on figures like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. It highlights the cultural uproar it caused among older generations, as reflected in a humorous anecdote comparing Elvis to Frank Sinatra. The narrative sets the stage for discussing those who opposed cultural conformity during this era.

CULTURE After 1945 [APUSH Review Unit 8 Topic 5] Period 8: 1945-1980 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 well hello and welcome back to heimlich's history now we've been going through unit 8 of the ap u.s history curriculum and in this video we're going to talk about changes in the american culture after 1945. so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked with utmost conformity then let's get to it first let's get our learning objectives squarely in front of our faces and it is this explain how mass culture was maintained and challenged during this period so there's essentially three ingredients to this cultural stew mass culture how it was maintained and how it was challenged so let's start with mass culture and when i say that what i mean
• 00:30 - 01:00 is a kind of widespread homogeneous set of ideas and patterns of behavior to which many americans subscribe and part of this pressure to conform culturally came from what we talked about a couple of videos ago namely mccarthyism as the fear spread that communists were under every rock and tree there was societal pressure to be a predictable kind of american you certainly don't want to be labeled a non-conformist otherwise you might be under suspicion as an enemy of the state but beyond that more gloomy reason for the spread of mass culture there were other reasons too for example by the end of the 1950s nearly 90 of all
• 01:00 - 01:30 american households had a television and just like the radio before it the widespread use of this new communication technology provided a platform for the consumption of mass culture television programming was dominated by a few networks which produced sports programming sitcoms soap operas and variety shows one of the most beloved pieces of programming was the suburban sitcoms like leave it to beaver and father knows best which presented the ideal american family complete with a working dad a housewife and slightly cheeky but ultimately obedient children and because these kind of programs were so popular with americans they provided
• 01:30 - 02:00 a common language and shared values among americans and that's what i mean when i say that the television spread mass culture now right along with the rise of television came the further rise of the advertising industry because of the general prosperity of the time people especially in the middle class had much more disposable income to spend and so advertisers got even more aggressive and appealed to people's emotional needs not necessarily their survival needs advertisers exploited people's need for belonging and status and offered their products as an answer to those needs but now that advertisers
• 02:00 - 02:30 were waking up every american's want hole by offering more than anyone could possibly afford they had a problem we got way more crap than all these people can afford so what do they do credit cards widespread use of credit through these little plastic rectangles of opportunity meant that people could buy more than they could afford and pay it off over time another carrier of mass culture was rock and roll music which became exceedingly popular among young people of that age this form of music spread mass culture mainly to the younger generation because the older generation hated it and although rock
• 02:30 - 03:00 music had its roots within the black community with musicians like chuck berry during this time and very much took on a white face in the music of elvis presley but this shift in music culture wasn't without its detractors especially among the older folks of the day it's like my grandpappy used to say son this music is trash now you just listen to me if frank sinatra was good enough for jesus he's good enough for you so those are some of the ways that mass culture was being spread after 1945 but there was also a group of folks who challenged the cultural conformity of the age and i reckon we ought to talk about them too so we'll stick with
• 03:00 - 03:30 artists for our purposes and for that let me introduce you to the beatniks or the beat generation this was a group of poets who rebelled against the conformity of the age through their poetry best known of this group was jack kerouac whose book on the road was a long series of stream of consciousness type poems that rejected standard poetical meter for a free-form style these poems rail against conformity by championing a life of spontaneity and freedom another important writer who rebelled against the cultural conformity of the time was j.d salinger who wrote the catcher in the rye it was a novel
• 03:30 - 04:00 about a troubled and cynical teenager named holden cofield who had a profound distaste for phoniness and it was precisely some of the mass cultural conformity i mentioned before that were the targets of coafield's most biting criticism so during this time you had the spread of mass culture through television and advertising and music and you also had a group of artists who rebelled against this conformity by calling for spontaneity and truthful living okay that's what you need to know about unit 8 topic 5 of the ap u.s history curriculum and if you're in the mood to get an a in your class and a 5 on your exam and made the review packet
• 04:00 - 04:30 right here holden cofield will not think you're a phony for doing so if you were helped by this video and want me to keep making them then you can let me know that by subscribing and i shall oblige heimler out