Suburbia Utopia: The Emergence of the Nuclear Family
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The family dynamic and social construct has evolved over the ages. There are many factors that go into the rise of the social standard family structure. This structure is described as the nuclear family. It is a heterosexual married couple with two children. Although the model predates the 1950s, the nuclear family became the standardized ‘normal’ family. The factors that lead to this rise in normalcy are vast and cover many social and economic aspects. This paper will explore these factors and provide some conclusions as to why the nuclear family model has stayed normal for over fifty years.
War and wartime efforts contribute to many western civilization ideologies, social and economic standards. The Second World War was a critical social and economic event that helped lay the foundations for a standard ‘normal’ family. Following the war saw a surge in the birth rate for Canada – the Baby Boom. As a reference to the western world, the U.S Bureau of Census states that from 1960 to 1974, the population under the age of 35 grew 46.4%. This can be seen across every economically developed country across the globe. Although there was a surge in births over the course of the 1950s, males were still the dominant source of a family’s income. The government wanted to ensure that there would not be a post-war depression and implemented the first wave of social services.
Unemployment insurance directly benefitted the male breadwinners, and the Family Allowance Act sought to support Canadian families post-war. With this economic bonus for having children, it allowed women to leave the jobs they took during the wartime efforts and helped them transition back to life as a caretaker. The government did not force women to be domesticated housewives. They just really pushed for it as the men of war returned home. The government was taking a new interest in renewing a strong family core for Canadians. This Social and economic Pursuit by The government allowed the creation of the ‘Golden Age. During this post-war era, the economy soared, and the Canadian citizens were prosperous. The middle class truly emerged. Middle-class ideals became the dominant force of the decades following the end of the war.
‘Suburbia’ emerged and took on all the families wanting to live the western capitalist dream. The development of suburbs gave these young families the opportunities to own and build upon this romantic dream. Though suburbs grew to be bigger than anticipated, they grew to be “mini-cities”. The suburbs were fully capable of supporting all the young, ambitious families of the Golden Age. The mini-cities gave all the families a sense of community. They belonged to the suburbs. When the men would go to the city during the day to work, the wives and children felt safe and secure in the suburbs, away from the busyness of the city. Living in the suburbs allowed the families to be closer to the nature of rural living but still gave them the ability to be a part of the industrialization that soared after the war. The cultural pluralism gave way to allow for a white picket fence dream. Men go off to work their office jobs in the city centers, their wives busy at home being caretakers, the children growing up in a community that allowed them to be expressive more than any other time in recent history. The children of middle-class families were able to be children and attend school without worry that they would need to work to provide for their families. They were able to be rebellious adolescent children. These nuclear families were able to live and thrive off of a sole income. Production rates were up, wages soared, and unemployment was at an all-time low. This new suburban way of life drastically changed the outlook of post-war society. Everyone was ambitious to live a happy middle-class life. The ‘Suburbia’ communities stuck together and would work as honest neighbours to ensure the community’s prosperity over individual success. These communities had everything a family could need. Schools, workplaces, shopping centers, restaurants, healthcare, entertainment facilities, and anything else a young family could ever need to succeed. The emergence and popularity of the suburbs gave little need for families to stay in the city-centre or to visit them. Having access to everything without travelling back to the city centre gave women in the suburban communities power during the war. The women were able to get groceries and essentials independently without needing a man or the family vehicle. For some, this made them feel essential to the survival of their family. The social aspect of the suburbs was enough to draw the nuclear family in and cement their place in these mosaic communities. The management of children in these areas was nothing that anyone had seen. PTA, little league, scouts, and family-orientated activities allowed parents to focus on grander pursuits while they were assured their children were being looked after. The grown dominance of suburban communities boosted the economy and gave families the chance to belong and feel like they were bettering themselves. They would gain total independence from the city, some visiting the centres less than five times a year. With many of these communities popping up all over the country during the post-war boom, it allowed for the dreams of civilians to rise while the inflation rate dropped. This family-oriented formula of success drove the economy of the country up while at the same time creating new social groupings of the modern nuclear family.
Although women of the golden age were portrayed as docile home keepers, many did break the submissive role they were written in as. The emergence of the ‘Pink-Collar” women. The women who sought to work once the men returned from the war took up clerical jobs instead of industrial work. Like their male counterparts that were referred to as the ‘blue-collar’ class of working men, the women were ‘pink-collar.’ These women worked as secretaries and clerical administrative staff in offices. A woman that was not an assistant was not seen as a pink-collar. These women ranged from married with children to single with no children. The relationship between working-class women and their residence in the suburbs is perfectly analyzed in an article by Kim V.L England, Suburban Pink-Collar Ghettos: The Spatial Entrapment of Women. In the article, England shows that women actually tended to live in the suburbs and were closer to their workplaces than their male counterparts. As opposed to hiring women that resided in the cities, employers saw that suburban women were more docile and would accept lower wages. Suburban women saw their income as secondary and that what they would make in wages would not affect their means to live, rather add to their household income in a small way. Women that came from the suburbs to work in the city were well-educated and had higher productivity than women that lived in the city. This was related to homeownership and marriage. Although these women were seen as the desirable candidate. Offices were tasked with a decision to stay in the city or more their place of work closer to the suburbs to accommodate for the pink-collar workers. A lot of them did just that. They relocated their offices to the suburbs or on the outskirts of the downtown area to lessen the commute for working women. The women still had domestic responsibilities, and a shorter commute would allow them to keep their home life running as smoothly as their work life. Taking this into consideration, it is clear to see just how familial the entire country was becoming. Employers were now starting to consider a woman’s home keeping responsibilities just as important as working. The focus was indeed on the family at this point. Everything revolved and operated for the success of the family structure.
There are many diverse factors in considering how the nuclear family came to be during the 1950s. Some were intentional, while others were not. To be able to pinpoint the exact causes of the emergence of the ideal family is impossible. The social conditions of the Postwar eras are ones that can only be duplicated after a time of crisis. The economy was soaring because of the war and continued to grow once veterans returned home. This was an era where women had some power and children were not conceived just to help support the family. The social changes that happened in the 1950s were some of the most rapid advancements in the modern world. There were outrageous advances in technology, ideology, theology and psychology. People understood the world around them in a different way. There was prosperity and hope for a better life. The white picket fence dream was born in suburbia, a place that offered everything of the city centre close and affordable to a home in a blossoming community. There was not a fear of death. Couples felt safe to bring life into the world and grow a family. The men were able to support this dream of utopia on a sole income. The government and employers were even on the side of giving families everything they needed to grow strong and healthy. No exclusive economic or sociological event or single force made it possible for the nuclear family to rise in popularity. It was all a by-product of the ever-changing times and how society and the countries they resided in handled the rapid changes.
Bibliography
Charles E. Zech. “The Postwar Baby Boom and Inflation.” Review of Social Economy35, no. 2 (October 1977): 200–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346767700000022.
Bryden, P.E, Colin Coates, Maureen Lux, Lynne Marks, Marcel Martel, and Daniel Samson. Visions: Post Confederation - The Canadian History Modules Project. Toronto, ON: Nelson, 2019.
England, Kim V.l. “Suburban Pink-Collar Ghettos: The Spatial Entrapment of Women?” Annals of the Association of American Geographers83, no. 2 (June 1993): 225–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1993.tb01933.x.
Muller, Peter O. “Everyday Life in Suburbia: A Review of Changing Social and Economic Forces That Shape Daily Rhythms Within the Outer City.” American Quarterly34, no. 3 (1982): 262. https://doi.org/10.2307/2712778.
- Celeste
