An Affluent Society and the Sixties - Essay Example

Inserts His/her Inserts Inserts Grade Inserts Here (Day, Month, Year) AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY AND THE SIXTIES The decade of 1960’s was a period of affluence and prosperity. There occurred a lot of social, economic, moral and political changes during the era of Eisenhower. During the 1960’s most of the Americans owned their own houses and ? of the people had television sets in their homes. Most of the buying and selling was made through bank loans, hire-purchase and credit cards. The percentage of working women increased to 40%.

Due to increase in the population in the suburbs there was increase in the demand of cars and gasoline which led to the decline of city business. In the year 1954 the phrase “under God” was made part of Pledge of Allegiance and “In God we trust” was included on all currency of the US in 1955.There was religious revival during the 1960’s as the percentage of people going to church and synagogue increased to 60%.Rock n roll music was introduced and Elvis Presley became the idol of the youth.

There was also a change in the concept of racism as new black artist were encouraged and were given a platform to show their talent. A major change which took place was that family togetherness became the top priority. During the 1960’s most of the people joined politics and they took active part in the civil rights and anti-war movements. In the 1960’s most of the emphasis was laid on women’s rights and in 1966 the National Organization for Women (NOW) was established. In my opinion the most significant change that took place in the 1960’s was economical because social security was expanded from self-employed persons to farmers and military personnel tge and the federal minimum wage was also increased.

Steps were also taken to minimize Federal budget was and keep inflation under control. Moreover, private sector was given more preference than the public sector which preferably enhanced the private sector but on the other hand public sector was being neglected. Demobilization also took place. There was an increase in the production of cars and construction of highways. (Cliffs Notes) Reference Anonymous. "The Affluent Society." CliffsNotes. 6 July 2011.