Postwar Social Changespacket notes

The Roaring Twenties

During the 1920s, new technology brought people closer and led to a period of excitement and change.

*Radio

*more affordable cars

*better telephones

*the motion picture

-After the war people got a sense of freedom and rebelled against tradition

-New Music*Jazz— the 1920s were known as the Jazz Age (musicians such as

Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong made jazz famous)

Women’s Lives

After WWI, there was limited progress in women’s rights.

-During the war, many women took over men’s jobs but left them when the men returned from battle

-Because of the efforts of women during war, they got the right to vote in some Western countries

-Housework became quicker and easier with new technology

*Washing machines

*Vacuum cleaners

-women began to participate in sports and the arts because they had more free time

Reactions to the Jazz Age

-Prohibition

*those who were against the new, free lifestyle of the 1920s supported the ban of alcohol

*the 18th Amendment created Prohibition in 1919

Reactions to Prohibition:

*illegal production of alcohol

*speakeasies, or illegal bars

*Prohibition ended in 1933

The Christian Reaction

*Fundamental Christianity spread (supported traditional Christian

ideas and believed in the Bible as the source of truth)

*the Scopes Trial (convicted for teaching evolution rather than creation)

The New Literature

A huge amount of literature was published in the 1920s.

-War Literature

*All Quiet on the Western Front!

-the Lost Generation

*after WWI many writers lost faith in society

*authors were deeply affected by war and were called the “Lost Generation”

The Harlem Renaissance

*an African American cultural awakening

*showed African American pride through literature, as well as music and art

New Scientific Theories

-Marie Curie and Radioactivity *her discoveries dealing with

radioactivity and the atom changed the world of science

*her work showed the progress that women were making in society as well

-Einstein’s Theory of Relativity *introduced a new way of thinking about space and time *made people even more confused and unsettled about the world around them

-Fleming Discovers Penicillin *a Scottish scientist accidentally

discovered the antibiotic, which is still used today

-Freud Probes the Mind

*Sigmund Freud was a revolutionary psychologist who talked about how the subconscious affects our behavior and how behavior is shaped by internal conflict *contributed a lot to psychology

Modern Art and Architecture

Broke away from tradition and formed new, less realistic styles

-Painting *Cubism *Abstract Art *Dada (nontraditional—created shocking and disturbing images) *Surrealism (showed the tension that Freud was talking about!)

-Architecture

*new styles (Frank Lloyd Wright)

*incorporated new technology and materials

Looking Ahead…

After WWI shook society, many people changed their ways of life. At first, there was a sense of freedom but this eventually gave way to the less hopeful “Lost Generation”.

And then at the end of the 1920s…

The Great Depression hit!