Chapter 24 Speech

The increasingly urban and consumer-oriented culture, and the development of the automobile created a well-developed youth culture that now valued education, and expanded the geographical horizons for millions of people. This changing world led to new social patterns, hobbies, interests and activities. The incoming world struck fear for many Americans trying to hold on to past values and culture. This fear led to extreme anti-movements against the impending future. These anti-movements included the National Origins Act of 1924 to ban immigration from east Asia, and the Klan’s focus shifting to purging American life from immigrants.

These positive cultural expansions caused by the automobile and the consumer-oriented atmosphere created new ways of life for all classes of people, especially youth. The automobile now allowed working and middle-class families to go on vacation, instead of just upper-class, because it made traveling more affordable. It also made it easier for people who lived out in the county to drive into town, or for the people in the city to escape the bustle and take a drive out in the countryside. The automobile led to the development of suburbs because of the new luxury to be able to drive into town every day, but not have to live in the constant congestion of the city. Another development that resulted from the automobile was the new youth culture. The automobile provided a way to escape their parents and develop social skills all of their own. These changes in social skills of youth also led to an increase in high-school and college attendances. Teenagers now had a desire to go to school, which helped them make an identity unique to their time. Adults during this time period became fearsome of the changing social patterns, interests, and hobbies of the new youth cultures, because these ideas were completely foreign to them when they were growing up.

Some of the fears and intimidations of our changing culture from the older generations led to radical movements against the incoming future. The Ku Klux Klan’s primary focus was on blacks, but now their targets had shifted to immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. The Klan’s shift in focus led to an increase of membership, not only in the south, but all across the north and the west. In 1924, the National Origins Act was passed banning immigration from east Asia. Since immigration from China was already illegal, this mainly targeted the Japanese. These radical movements were an attempt by the older generation to keep the United States the way it was in the past. Essentially, they were just intimidated by change, and felt that everyone should believe the same old principles that they did.

The automobile and the increasingly urban and consumer-oriented culture, developed a new youth culture that valued education, and expanded the geographical horizons of Americans. These new, positive cultural changes led to extreme movements against the future. All of these changes, both good and bad, are so important because they most dramatically shaped the culture we live in today.