Contemporary American Life Pt. 1 (VUS.17 - 2023)

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Middle class

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A social group between the upper and working classes, typically characterized by moderate income, education, and white-collar employment.

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Nuclear family

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A household unit consisting of two parents and their children; idealized during the 1950s in American culture.

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Baby boom

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A significant increase in birth rates in the U.S. following World War II, lasting from roughly 1946 to 1964.

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Benjamin Spock

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Pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care (1946) influenced postwar child-rearing practices.

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Jonas Salk

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Medical researcher who developed the first successful polio vaccine in the 1950s.

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Interstate highway system

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A national network of roads created by the Federal Highway Act of 1956 to support defense and commerce.

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Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

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Government agency providing mortgage insurance, contributing to suburban expansion post-WWII.

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Suburbia

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Residential communities on the outskirts of cities that grew rapidly in postwar America.

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Levittowns

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Mass-produced suburban developments that became a model for American suburbia in the 1950s.

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Automobile ownership

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Surged after WWII, contributing to suburban growth, highway development, and car culture.