Cultural And Social Changes In The 1920's

The 1920s, better known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’ was a great time in the America’s relatively new arrival into the world. The economy was booming and the American dream was not just a nice idea, it was a reality. It was also a time of drastic change for society and cultural norms, which saw the rise of the feminist movement, a revolution in communication, as well as a growing leisure society. Without a doubt one of the most important cultural and social changes during this period was the slow progress towards women’s emancipation. Women won the right to vote in 1920, and as a result they joined the workforce in greater numbers and the marital status of women also change, with the divorce rate doubling as well as the fertility rate dropping. As a result of this, the younger generation chose to ignore the traditional Victorian way of life of their parents. They started to wear short skirts and developed a new fashion trend, which earned them the name of “the flapper”. In addition, behaviors and habits that had once been deemed unacceptable almost became normal, women began to drink, smoke, swear and engage in premarital sex. The reason behind this sudden change in the younger generation was due to WWI and the liberal period that occurred during the 1920s. Another big change that occurred during this time was the revolution of communication. By the end of the 1920s nearly 13 million homes had phones, which was a massive jump up from the beginning of the century when only a couple thousand houses had phones. The radio quickly became very popular during this period as well, it gave the perfect platform for mass marketing. Finally, movies really became popular, on average people would go to movies once a week; it was the beginning of the “Movie Age”. During this period, the economy boomed, by the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the US became the fast growing economy in the world. There are many factors for the economic growth, but the growing economy also stimulated other areas of society. The economy shifted from an agricultural economy to a production economy, which resulted in the migration from rural to urban areas. This also helped improve cultural pluralism because cities became multiculturalist. The eligible workforce exploded and as a result, small businesses in urban areas needed to provide for a much bigger market, which saw businesses transform into corporation and the beginning of mass production. With it came the struggle of being able to supply the ever-increasing demand. The automotive industry benefited greatly from the electrification of the production line as well as Henry Ford’s innovation of the assembly line. Ford was able to increase their output of cars by nearly 34,000,000% in the span of thirty years while also being able to decrease their assembly …show more content…
However, with people having more time due to how well the economy was doing, people were able to focus on themselves and enjoy their time. As a result of the country becoming a leisure society it causes the social, gender and even ethnic classes to break down, allowing everyone to enjoy the activities together. Attendance of spectator sports such as baseball, basketball, football and boxing nearly doubled throughout the first part of the