The Great Depression
Cultural And Social Effects of the Great Depression on American Life
The Great Depression has not only affected the economic life of Americans but also changed their cultural and social lives.
The Great Depression was unparalleled regarding its far-reaching effects on every aspect of American life. It not only destroyed the economic system of America which was inherently weak and fragile but also gave them a chance to rebuild it anew along the modern line.
The Depression awakened the slumbering minds of the policymakers and provided them with the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to spearhead the extraordinary political and economic reforms that saved the country from falling apart.
Despite the devastating impacts of the Great Depression that crumbled the fabric of American society; it gave rise to popular cultural, social and literary trends. The emergence of cinema, the film industry and the new form of art, music and literature became the vehicles of presenting and spreading the new American traditions and values.
Hopelessness associated with many vices swept American society when the Great Depression reached its height. Malnutrition, suicide, and poverty were on the rise to avoid the pains of the time. People took to alcoholism to find an escape from the harsh realities of life. Desperate women took to prostitution to pay their bills.
It was a time of great uncertainty and depression. The recession wiped out many great businesses, while paved the way for the emergence of others. Factories couldn’t afford to pay their workers. Consequently, they were laid off. To put food on the table, people resorted to petty thefts and the crime rate rose rapidly.
The priority of health and education receded backwards. They struggled for bare survival. Doctors were sorted out in the direst consequences and education was only limited to male children as they were thought to be the soon earning hands of the family.
It was an era that reshaped the American consciousness and gave them a new look at life. Some of the visible Changes are recounted as under.
Homelessness
The loss of the job compelled many Americans to leave their homes. They couldn’t pay the rent and were out in the streets — homeless. It was intolerable for many, as they had never been homeless. So, they did anything to keep a roof over their head.
Homeless people made shacks from anything they could find. They used almost anything that could shelter them. The shelters they made were commonly known as Hoovervilles.
The name, Hoovervilles, was given to the shacks because they thought that this condition is brought by the then-president Herbert Hoover. The Americans believed that Hoover’s response to the depression was slow and not befitting. And after all, someone was to be blamed for the recession, the Americans blamed their president.
Rise in unemployment
The rate of unemployment skyrocketed during the Great Depression. Millions of people lost their jobs. The result was that they couldn’t pay the rent of their houses, or support their family and even feed themselves.
People flocked together in single apartments, and affording a separate home was difficult. The family needed the money of everyone to meet the requirements.
The loss of jobs and the inability of men to feed their families have created a psychological rift in their minds. They felt shame and thought that they have been disgraced if the situation compelled their women and children forced to work to support the family.
Women were also accused of snatching jobs from men. They too were fired if the employer would find that they were married.
The Fury of the Dust bowl
During the Great Depression, the Great Plains were hit hard by both drought and fierce dust storms. The storms ran wild on the overgrazed fields and destroyed the meagre crops that were the only hope of the small farmers.
Before the dust bowl, the farmers borrowed money from banks to buy seeds upon the condition of paying back with interest when their crops came in. The dust bowl damaged the crops that reduced the ability of the small farmers to feed themselves; let alone pay their debts back.
The dust bowl and the drought pushed the small farmers to the abyss of despair. Thus, suicide was a common practice to put an end to their miseries. Some of the small farmers fled to other states to avoid paying back.
Illness and starvation
The Great Depression robbed jobs from the million. When they were unable to pay rent, eat good and live in tight quarters, they faced starvation and illness.
It simply meant that those who couldn’t afford to pay rent were either living in Hoovervilles or families together in one apartment. They had no access to clean water, no bathrooms, and dirt everywhere.
In such situations, one could easily fall prey to illness and diseases. Children were the hard-hit as they suffered long-term malnutrition from a poor diet. They were more prone to get easily ill and to suffer longer.
Changes in family life
The recession also affected the demographic trends. The idea of getting married was scary as it incurred money, which was the scarcest commodity.
The lack of jobs and money resulted in delayed marriages. Males didn’t want to marry before getting a job. The males focused more on the career than family making.
In the 1930s, divorce rates also dropped drastically as it was expensive. Those who couldn’t afford it chose “Poor man’s divorce”. They simply abandoned their marriages and ran away from them.
People also used family planning techniques to control birth control and thus to avoid extra expenses incurred by more children. Birth rates fall sharply and reached the lowest during the Depression.
People faced mass migration
The decade of 1930 saw a mass migration. People left their hearth and homes to find opportunities in other places. The population of the Great Plains migrated to Arizona and California. Rural New England and upstate New York also lost most of the population to other states in search of new life.
The migrants were most of the time the younger population who left their families ran away to make their destiny somewhere else. Almost 600,000 travelled without tickets and were caught in hitch riding during Depression.
Popular Culture of the time
Trends of popular culture were also changing increasingly. The Great Depression also saw the rise of the film industry and classic movies like Gone with the Wind, Frankenstein, and It happened One Night, were debuted.
Despite the financial difficulties, almost every two out of five Americans watched a movie per week. The Hollywood industry flourished in the 1930s. Films were a tremendous source of entertainment.
Along with the film industry, radio also flourished in those days. People who owned a radio during the time listened to radio extensively. President Roosevelt used radio extensively to convey his hope and optimism to a wider audience. He used his periodic ‘Fireside Chats’ programs on the radio to keep people informed of his policies and to instil hope and optimism in them.
Photography was also on the rise. Dorothea Lange, a professional photographer of the time, used her photography to depict the sad picture of the Great Depression.
Despite the pains and miseries, the Americans loved dancing and music. The Blues was an apt musical form that flourished and gained immense popularity during the Great Depression.
Along with the Blues, gospel, swing jazz, and folk music also saw a rise and ingrained in the American Culture.
