Thursday, April 18, 2013

Citation example

This is taken from Chapter 3 of my Master's Thesis--it's my historical context chapter. 
CHAPTER 3
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT
Historical and cultural context are both critical when evaluating a topic like women’s advice literature. For this reason, I will briefly go over the major political, social, and economic events that created the culture of women’s advice literature in the United States 1945-1965. There were a myriad of changes in the first half of the Twentieth Century: an economic depression, a second world war, women working in wartime industries, a population explosion, suburban explosion, and several Civil Rights issues coming to a head. The United States was experiencing rapid, if not violent change. This chapter will focus briefly on major events that happened before 1945 and go through 1965.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1929-1941)
The years leading up to World War II are characterized by economic crisis and familial struggle. The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929 and the United States went into panic. It took the next ten years for the country to recover (Kennedy 38). Men, women, and children suffered the effects of a national Great Depression: unemployment, food shortages, and general lack of everyday resources. Nearly 40 percent of American families lived below the poverty level toward the end of this economic crisis and as a result, the family institution in the United States wavered; divorce rates rose significantly, marriages were at an all time low, and the birth rate dropped (May 474). These changes in both family structure and family economics brought an unwelcome shift in gender roles.
The population growth in the United States had been steadily declining since the 1920s and in the 1930s, politicians, sociologists and theorists all warned of impending doom as a result of this decline. Theories of the cause of this steep decline ranged from “the emancipation of women” to “the work of the devil” (Jones 15). Regardless of the cause, a decline in population growth, in the minds of politicians of the 1930s, translated to a loss of national power. Western nations all around the world were experiencing this drop in population, most likely caused by economic crisis, marriage decline and an increase in birth control methods. One writer thoughtfully states that people will always find a way to control reproduction if “another mouth in the family” will only cause suffering and danger (Jones 15). Though the loud voices of the United States (politicians, writers, theorists) were warning all Americans of possible catastrophes that would result from this decline, the public did not waver on its stance to protect and care for the family they already had by preventing unwanted pregnancies.
Gender roles during the Great Depression were also changing dramatically. Men struggled to find employment to support their families while women also tried to find extra income. The “New Deal” works projects and federal aid only helped men, however, so families that had no male patriarch because of death or desertion, struggled even more (Deutsch 448). The number of women in the workforce rose steadily during this time and there was a great amount of hostility because of this, particularly regarding married women in the workforce (Deutsch 452). Women in the workforce meant women taking away men’s jobs, and married women in the workforce meant competition not only to men in general but also for their husbands (Deutsch 449). Married women were discouraged from entering the workforce, and some states even passed laws limiting married women’s eligibility in the workforce during the Great Depression. Even though it was not uncommon for men to desert their families, federal works funding and ideas were focused on keeping men with their families as opposed to helping women support families after men were gone (Deutsch 452).
The economic and social climate during the Great Depression was heavy with fears of “racial suicide” because the American family was struggling in every way (Deutsch 452, Jones 12). Countries like Germany and Great Britain were just as concerned as the United States. These countries campaigned and encouraged young couples to marry and procreate because the strength of the family translated to the strength of the nation (Jones 16). When World War II came upon Europe in 1939 and the threat reached the United States in December 1941, a strong American family became crucial in the wartime effort.
United States in World War II (1941-1945)
Though many factors led up to the United States’ involvement in World War II, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 finalized the war against Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan (Jones 17-18). This entrance into another global war brought social, political and economic consequences for the United States, particularly on the home front. One of the more positive aspects of the war was it brought the country out of a ten-year depression. But the war brought not only economic opportunities but also a new sense of national pride.
Wartime caused a surge not only in nationalism but also in the marriage rate. Men joining the armed forces to be shipped overseas saw it important to fight for a “girl back home”. Women saw it as their patriotic duty to marry their sweethearts and possibly encourage the growth of a new, free, and proud American family to come home to. The fear of “racial suicide” subsided with these wartime marriages and babies. Some even argue that the baby boom started in 1942 when the United States officially entered into the war (Jones 16; Kennedy 747). This new sense of national pride was healthy for those who fit the profile of an “American”, but those who did not fit this idea suffered.
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the United States government feared Japanese Americans were potential security threats. Without much deliberation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 which relocated Japanese American citizens to internment camps2 (Kennedy 753). This was a move toward isolating another race of United States citizens (Jim Crow Laws were still very much a part of the South) made the nation strive toward conformity and suspect othered people.
Those who did “belong” in the United States dutifully took up their responsibilities as American citizens. Men joined the military and with their departure from the home front women were called to take their men’s place in the factories. While during the Great Depression, married women in the workforce were abhorred; during World War II it was considered their duty to take up arms at home to help the boys overseas. Government campaigns encouraged all women to get out and support the wartime effort through working in all kinds of professions that had once been forbidden to women like factory work. One of the most popular professions was aircraft assembly. Women were praised for their work, however they were still expected to maintain a feminine appearance (May 477). The popular image of “Rosie the Riveter” was created during this time, and women were happy not only to do their part for the country but also because they enjoyed their work (May 476; Jones 17).
Though women’s work was helpful and heavily encouraged by the United States government during the war, when the war ended in the fall of 1945, women were told their patriotic duty was to return to their homes for the returning soldiers. They were expected to give up their jobs, whether they wanted to or not. Many women were incredibly happy to return to or find a life where they could be homemakers, but many also regretted the fact that the opportunities the government gave them during the war were rapidly taken away (May 491).