Title: The 1950s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: The 1950s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview
The 1950s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview
The 1950s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview

Content: By the millions, Americans who had just survived two decades of economic depression and war left the cities for the greenery and open spaces of the suburbs. Suburban towns sprang up like crabgrass across the country. With these instant communities came a new American lifestyle that included suburban malls, fast-food restaurants, TV dinners, drive-in movies, and an oversized, gas-guzzling car in every garage. The decade was a time in which the roles within the "ideal" American family were clearly defined. The father was the breadwinner. Five days a week, fifty weeks a year, he donned his gray flannel suit, hopped into his car or on a commuter train, and headed off to earn money to support his wife, his ever-growing family, and their materialistic lifestyle. Meanwhile, his "little woman" remained home and raised the kids. Life was simple and ordered, and the cornerstone of society was authority. Teachers, police officers, politicians, and clergy were respected, and their pronouncements went unchallenged. Fittingly, most of the decade's architecture and furniture design was spare and functional. (