The United States in the 1950s 4219-SH001
The United States in the 1950s
Course description:The 1950s are, on the one hand depicted as a decade of widespread optimism, affluence and stability, emergence of new cultures (teen, car, fashion, etc) but on the other as the period of anti-communist hysteria, witchhunt, and fear caused by the Cold War, arms race and possibilities of a global, nuclear conflict. Yet another points of view stresses conformity and anxiety. Therefore the coursewill focus on presenting American society from different points of view and its objective will be to find a balanced view of the decade which, in the context of the 1960s and the rejection of traditional American values, seems to be of equal importance. Students will also study events and issues that challenged the racial and social status quo, that is the early civil rights movement, the beat, music, social commentators and critics (i. e. C.W. Mills, H. Marcuse) . The course will also pay attention to American culture and literature, using an interdisciplinary approach. Our goal is to question what happened during the 1950s and its implications for the present.
Classes:
1. Suburban America
2. Post War prosperity
3. Family in the 1950s
4. Spies and Subversives
5. Religion
6. McCarthyism domestic polics
7. Race and racial problems
8. International Politics - the Cold War
9. The Arts - literature, etc.
10. Rock and Roll
11. The Beat
12. The Leisure Society
13. President Ike
14. Mass culture
15. Final test
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Upon completing this course student will
in the field of knowledge
1. have knowledge concerning the discussed decade
2. be bale to explain relations between phenomena taking place in the decade in the United States
3. be able to notice the international dimension of the decade
4. know the directions of development and evolution of the United States in the demostic and international dimension
in the field of skills:
1. be able to explain the reasons and dynamics of phenomena taking place in the USA
2. be able to formulate conclusions and evaluations of the discussed phenomena
3. be able to explain the course of political events in the USA and abroad
4. have advanced skills of interdisciplinary analysis to present and analyse developments in the United States
in the field of competence
1. be open on new ideas and developments in the United States
2. understand the importance of changes for a citizen of a democratic country
3. be aware of the role of these developments for contemporary United States
4. be able to discuss on controversial topcs in the discussed period with respect to other points of view.
Assessment criteria
attending, active participation in class, presentations, final test.
Bibliography
Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers Republic
J. Ronald Oakley, America in the Fifites
Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: