Life in
post€“World War II America was largely characterized by mass waves of migration to suburbia and
other outlying areas around cities. While a mere 13% of Americans lived in suburbs prior to
World War II, that figure had spiraled upwards to 50% by 2010.
Sociological
effects were rampant and pronounced as suburbia's influence and importance expanded. Here are
just a few of the most critical points:
Suburban living became synonymous
with "the American dream," driving large numbers of Americans out of already
overcrowded cities. They were able to transition to property owners. Along with that transition
came new attitudes toward issues like community and privacy.
The economic
landscape shifted as the population boom required the simultaneous expansion of retail outlets,
office buildings, and other places of employment. The creation of these additional workplaces
not only expanded the economy, including facilitating a boom in construction, but also induced
further migration.
The racial and ethnic makeup of suburbia was largely
comprised of whites, who were more likely to view underdeveloped or newly developed areas as
places of opportunity. White groups previously divided by ethnicity, religion or nationality
(including Greeks, Poles, Italians, Irish, Jews and Eastern Europeans) found unity in their
"whiteness" and became more integrated. Blacks, Hispanics and other people of color
were largely excluded until the civil rights movement.
Families were largely
composed of young, married, heterosexual couples with children, with sharply defined roles for
men (breadwinners) and women (homemakers). However, even fewer women in suburbia worked outside
the home than their non-suburban counterparts. One study by Otis Dudley Duncan and Albert J.
Reiss Jr. claimed that only 9% of suburban women worked outside the home compared with 27% of
women nationwide. The fact that so many women stayed home while their husbands worked meant
women were largely in a position to shape the attitudes of their neighborhoods.
Suburbia became an incubator for political movements that were either motivated to
maintain the affluent, harmonious, picturesque and crime-free environment promised in "the
American Dream" or upend it. This ranged from grass-roots conservatism to environmentalism
to radical feminism to social justice.
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