The American Dream in the 1950s and 1960s: The lmportance of the Suburban Lifestyle

Abstract

This work will deal with the topic of the American suburban mentality and its values after the Second World War, more concretely in the fifties and sixties. The suburban lifestyle, which changed the conception of the American Dream into a life goal based on outward appearance and material success, will be studied in an attempt to show its darkest side. The prototypical white middle class family of the suburbia of that time, leading a superficial life of purely materialistic comfort and conformity, will be analyzed with the purpose of showing the failure of this suburban version of the American Dream to guarantee fulfillment and happiness to the human being. This idea will be supported by studies on the topic, as well as by some sociological data of the time that show the impact that the suburban lifestyle had on the middle-class society. Finally, references from literature and cinema will be provided in order to show how this conception of the American Dream has been depicted in American fiction and how the suburban mentality originates an atmosphere that is used to cover the misfortunes of life