Comformity and the Loss of Individuality
With the end of World War II in 1945, the United States became the dominant world power, but the pre-war independent spirit of the American people seemed to have disappeared. A deeply conformist trend swept the country, and witch hunts, blacklists, and loyalty oaths drove the political movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and House Committee on Un-American Activities. Complementing the resulting political passivity in the United States, a post-war economic boom rapidly created a mass consumer society. Thousands of Gls returned home from all over the world with news of other cultures and societies. Now eager to resume their lives as civilians went to college in unprecedented numbers and settled in the new sprawling suburbs which were the most visible symbol of the increasing democratization of the United States. To the old elite, however, these new suburbs symbolized conformity, best illustrated by the “organization man” who wore a “grey flannel suit” and the indistinguishable tract homes. Population shifts within the United States saw the great centers, emptied by the middle classes and the upwardly mobile, filled by the less educated and the poor.