Ch. 17-3 Prosperity and Consumption

Consumerism- urge to acquire lots of possessions

Rise of suburbs increased the amount of automobiles, TVs and homes

TV led to cultural uniformity

Rise of Suburbs

GI Bill- helped millions of veterans attend college

Baby Boom- dramatic increase in the birthrate between 1946-1964 (50 million babies)

Led to massive consumption of goods

Suburbs

Levittowns- town in NY were all the houses look the same and built at low costs

Cities- minorities occupy the inner cities as whites moved to the suburbs

Levittown, NY

Recent Immigration

Immigrants from Latin America and Asia began to flock to the U.S.

Recent immigrants need to possess a skill (doctor, engineer, scientist etc.)