The White Picket Fence Was All Race's Suburban Goal Essay

What is race and social construction? The book defines race, “as a system for classifying people who are believed to share common descent, based on perceived innate physical similarities.” Social construction is a concept that is invented and shaped based on present time society. First, the books describes race as a social construct. Then the book explains that the idea of race wasn’t just socially invented by one person but rather a large mass of people who formed a society.

“The suburban subdivision was unquestionable a successful product. For many, it was a vast improvement over what they were used to. The houses were specious compared to city dwellings, and they contained modern conveniences. Air, light, and a modicum of greenery came with the package” (Kunstler, 105). Once again, living in Levittown was more logical than living anywhere else.

Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States is a book by Kenneth T. Jackson on the migration of many, primarily white, Americans to the suburbs during the mid-twentieth century and how many blacks were robbed of the opportunity to move elsewhere as well. From the chapter we read, we learn about the ways blacks were suppressed to worse parts of cities and how corporations and our government kept blacks from moving into different or better neighborhoods. The author argues that the lasting effects of the government have put a seal of approval on the racial discrimination in the housing market and these actions were picked up by private interests to deny mortgages to people, as they would say, based on geographical location of the property. Over the course of the book, Jackson gives evidence to how federal housing policies affected where Americans lived and how our government used it 's power to socially control racial minorities.

While the middle class individuals had the advantage of no longer having to constantly compare themselves to the rich and poor within their own neighborhoods, their new-found division brought different struggles. Having little contact with other economic/social class caused everyone and everything to be the same; if you didn’t live as the middle class majority did, you were easily considered an outsider. A fascinating link, Brinkley suggests that the effect of suburbanization was extended past materialistic desires and into the everyday lives, such as the workplace and in everyday values. Just as girls in high school today “need” to follow a certain set of fashion rules, the pressure in corporations was similar: “They were pressured to dress alike, to adopt similar goals and values and habits, to place a high value on ‘getting along’ within the hierarchal structure of the corporation.” This pressured homogenization treated the self-conscious feelings of those who wanted to be different as something to be ashamed of, causing people to hide their differences. So, while suburbs brought similar people together, it also created distinct separations between differing communities of people in

years of the War. So the birth rate expanded abruptly. The quantity of youngsters between the ages of five and fourteen expanded by more than ten million between nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty. A considerable lot of the inexperienced parents moved to homes in the new rural areas. The word suburb originates from the word urban, or doing with urban communities. A rural area was sub or something not as much as, a city. It as a rule was made on an unfilled real estate parcel simply outside a city. A representative would purchase the land and construct houses on it. Youthful families would purchase the houses with cash that they obtained from nearby banks. Life was distinctive in suburbia. There was a wide range of gathering exercises. 12 There were changes to

They were no more than hardworking renters, now. That was the lowest Tike had ever been but he had not reached the rock bottom of the farming industry, so the hope of owning land was still there. Therefore, when a government brochure, for the farming population, presented the idea of a safe, sanitary, and inexpensive house of earth, the dream of building this house was formed.

It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that housing became a policy issue in the United States. Housing didn’t become an issue until the cities began to create a huge amount of jobs which forced a lot of Americans from the countryside along with immigrants to rush to urban areas in large amounts. The housing arrangements were so poor that there was up to five families cramming in small portions of single family homes. Although the living conditions were poor, policy-makers left cities and states to deal with the issue alone.

Racial segregation can lead to unpredictable circumstances and complications in your family. Troy Maxon was the protagonist in the book called Fences . In this book Troy uses baseball to show his way of love and responsibilities of his family. Troy had a amazing baseball career of hitting balls over the fence, but then one day that ended. Cory which is Troy’s son loves football and wants to continue to play it, but Troy is not to happy with it. To show significance of baseball in his life he put fences up around where he lives to protect him and his family from the racism. One major part of the story is family is important to Troy ,but he does not treat them like they are suppose to be treated, and this has a big effect on how he is treated

The significance of the suburbs for the development of the United States was crucial in the 1950s. In the 1950s the US was the strongest nation because it was able to thrive in its economy and military powers. Because of the thrive of economy people were able to buy cars and houses outside of the city. Since they had transportation outside of the city. People moved to the outskirts of the city because they had a lot of babies. After world war two was over a lot of Americans had children because of they were happy to find peace and believed that it would last. This era Americans had more employments and the wages were

The landlords tried to squeeze as many rent-paying residents as possible into the smallest available space. In 1870, Jacob Riis immigrated to the United States from Denmark, he was unable to find a steady source of income, so he took on various low-paying jobs such as bricklaying, carpentry, and sales. Riis experienced firsthand the absolute poverty in America’s cities and felt that the unsanitary and dangerous living conditions were a terrible injustice. As an example, “The first tenements, built in 1850, had been hailed as a great improving ih housing for the poor. But most were, in fact, miserable places, with many windowless rooms and little or no plumbing or heating.”

According to Daily Life... (Kaldin, 2000) the population of suburban areas during the 1950s had started to double from 36 million to 74 million. This rise in suburban residents had continued from 1950 to 1970.When more families had started to move to suburban areas, they came together by adding things such as playgrounds, libraries, and schools to the neighborhood to benefit their kids. This “flight to the suburbs” was difficult for blacks because of the racism in society at the time. Many black people were ignored and shunned at this time in society, so it was hard for blacks to move into suburbs knowing that they could be ridiculed in these areas because of their skin color.

When she returned back to the states, Addams and her good friend, Ellen Starr observed the many slums of Chicago. While doing this, her mind was focused on starting a settlement house in Chicago. “Chicago seemed the place to look; it had large Italian colonies, and though bluff and grasping, it still remembered the easy democracy of the prairies” (Wise 128). “The once prosperous neighborhood had become home to thousands of European immigrants who had fled their native countries hoping to find a better life in America” (Kittredge 17).

Throughout the world of suburbia, there seems to be a persistence of communities who attempt to create a perfect, enclosed world for the whole of the community to live in. By providing for everything that the inhabitants would ever want, suburbia is able to close itself off from those around it that it deems unworthy of belonging. While this exclusivity helps to foster the sense of community, it can also bring with it isolation from the outside, and also from within, and have disastrous results. Throughout the semester, there have been a number of works that have dealt the issue of isolation, but the greatest representation of a work whose physical qualities in its representation of suburbia help to

The development of the suburbs has been appointed to be the result of the “white flight” from the inner cities. In the 1950’s black Americans moved northward to cities to find industrial jobs that were within walking distance. Discrimination in cities worsened, crime rates increased and educational facilities’ credentials weakened or gained bad reputations. The upper-class families left the cities and mass migrated to the suburbs to escape the increasing crime rates and worsening conditions. This movement was later termed the “white flight”. Every American wanted to begin building the “ideal family”: two parents, two children and maybe a pet or two. This newly invented middle-class prospered as

Suburban life is considered a utopia for many individuals. Well-manicured lawns surrounding every neutral colored home is heaven. Rules force home owners to care for their property and abide by neighborhood regulations. No eyesores can exist. Parents feel safe allowing children to play outdoors or go to the neighborhood park. Suburbanites can avoid negatives such as traffic, poor schools, high tax rates, and violent crime. Neighbors once again speak to each other and have neighborhood events such as parades, picnics, and block parties. Suburban communities are somewhat like a time in the past when it was acceptable to trust those who live nearby. It is once again safe to go next door to borrow a cup of sugar.