The Great Depression was the worst financial crisis in United States history. Besides devastating the United States economy, the economic downturn had horrible effects on the social atmosphere of the country. In this post, I will describe some of the social and cultural effects of the Great Depression, that are often overlooked in lieu of the economic impact.
In order to survive the Great Depression, Americans had to change their habits and adapt their lifestyles. One of the most popular songs in the year 1932, the year that was the lowest point of the Great Depression, was “Brother, can you spare a dime?” Lyrics in the song include “they used to tell me I was building a dream/ With peace and glory ahead/Why should I be standing in line/ Just waiting for bread?”
The lyrics of this song reflect the desperation felt by many Americans at the start of the Depression. Many people and families left rural areas in hopes of finding more job opportunities/economic prosperity in urban America. The result was mass migration in America. The number of “rural” Americans now coming to the cities in the United States changed the cultural atmosphere of the cities. Migration also uprooted many American families, and changed the whole dynamic of rural America.
Poor economic times also led to a sharp plummeting in prices of material goods. According to John Hardman of Stanford University, “A new home could be bought for less than $3,000. ...A man's suit cost about $10, a shirt less than 50 cents, and a pair of shoes about $4. Milk was 10 cents a quart, a pound of steak only 29 cents, and a loaf of bread a nickel.” In addition, poor economic times also led to an increase in the number of suicides in America, as hopelessness and fatigue spread throughout the general population. In the year 1931 alone, more than 20,000 Americans committed suicide.
One of the biggest social consequences of the Great Depression was the effect it had on families. Many marriages were put on hold, as people wanted to wait for “better economic times” to get married. Divorces were expensive, so the number of “cheap divorces” increased-essentially, people would just abandon their spouse instead of going through the formal divorce process. People also started having less children to conserve money, and the number of families with a single child increased.
The horrible economic conditions led people to seek forms of entertainment that diverted their attention from the reality at hand. The movie Superman was introduced in 1938, and according to Karina Miranda this movie“played into people’s desires to have a hero to solve all their problems.” Blues became an extremely popular musical genre during this time. In addition, radio shows like The Lone Ranger became exceedingly popular, and movies like Snow White attracted millions to the cinema.
The economic impacts of the Depression changed the social and cultural atmosphere of America for decades to come. Something to ponder is what truly was the biggest social/cultural effect of the Depression. I personally feel a big one was the effect it had on families. Thoughts?
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Sitara, I really enjoyed this post it is interesting to see how times of panic and depression can lead to adverse effects not only in the economy but on social conditions of citizens. In my opinion I believe the biggest social changes were ones that involved changes in moral values. The idea that men would run away from their wifes (ironically what Clark Gable does in Gone with the Wind which was made during this time frame). Instead of going through the legal process of actually getting divorced which religion and society dictates is the right thing to do these men were so pressured by the depression that they just decided to run away. This shows that the depression turned men with morals into people who threw away what they believed. In a sense this really showed how powerful this depression really was. Another example, is suicide just as you explained suicide rates increased drastically during this time period. Christianity dictates that suicide is a deadly sin and eternal damnation will be ahead of you if you kill what God gave you. However the economical condition was so bad during this time period that people stopped caring because in reality hell was on earth. This clearly shows that in this time of crisis peoples religious and ethical morals declined because there seemed like there was no hope. This I believe is the biggest effect of the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very informative post, it's ironic that when economic downturn hits instead of doing what you've always done, people feel the need to do something different to try and help their situation. Like all the farmers that migrated to the cities. With their massive migration to the cities, the cities became even more of a mess with more poor people. Also with the stock market, people get scared that something bad is going to happen so they change, and then when everyone else does the same, you get something like the Stock Market Crash.
ReplyDeleteYour post is indeed very well written, Sitara, and the format lends clarity to the message. From this post I obtained a much clearer impression of the effects of the Great Depression. As for a social/cultural effect of the Depression, I agree with you that the Depression greatly impacted American families. Since jobs were hard to find and it was consequently hard to save up money, marriages were delayed. Families stopped having as many children because they could not afford them. More people learned about the use of birth control, and therefore birth rates fell. The divorce issue that Ryan wrote about also affected the idea of family. Another major player would be mass migrations, which happened as people moved around to try and find better conditions. Adolescents especially moved in hopes of starting a better life. The Dust Bowl caused many farmers to want to move away from the prairies during the 1930s. These farmers often moved California, but were disappointed at the conditions there as well. In conclusion, the effects of the Depression were apparent in both family settings and mass migrations.
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http://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
It's kind of weird to see how really only 2-3% owned stock and when the stock market crashes it causes widespread chaos, there was some old footage I remember seeing while looking at social and economic effects, a few months in the beginning of the 1930's riots would break out and California had to call in the National Guard because nobody could restore order.
ReplyDeleteSources: PPT Presentation
Riot Footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exuGv3HsV-U
This post is very informative, and very clear. When I think of the Great Depression, I would just think of the stock market crash. But you seem to approach the problems at a different angle, and stats such as a home being less than $3000, and that in 1931 there were more than 20,000 suicides in the United States opens this topic to social and cultural effects. Families could not have as many children as they wanted simply because the money was not there to catch up with them. The fact that material goods were so inexpensive may portray an easy way to consume them, but when there were so many people who were fired from their jobs, were homeless, or just did not make very much money, these material goods were hard to come by. And for those who produced these material goods, also lost a lot of money because what they were making became inexpensive, and were rarely bought. This is a pattern that I am seeing in the Depression. When nothing is bought, no money is being made. When no money is being made, people are fired, and then they also have no money. This is obviously a major problem.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting what cultural phenomena occurred in response to the Great Depression, some of which remains in society and modern culture today. Popcorn, for example, was a very cheap food back then, and was given away by movie theaters in order to save the film business. Popcorn was a cheap & easily produced snack, but was sometimes considered "low class."
ReplyDeleteFrom: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2013/10/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies/