The American middle class family moral valus in Turmoil 1950-1980

Abstract

Historically as well as sociologically speaking, people in general and societies in particular, have always diverged from their very existence. They kept living with a series of socio-ideological disagreements perpetuating the spirit of individual antagonism and inter-generational conflicts spreading overwhelmingly within a multi-racial as well as cultural society. America of the fifties, or some may call it Post-War America was one of the most important periods. It was on the eve of a salient transitory phase, moving thus, from an era of upheavals including: isolation, World War One, Great Depression, World War Two and the Cold War, to an era known as being the embodiment of the American Dream. American middle class citizens then, embraced both full material prosperity and spiritual oneness. As a nascent nation, it brilliantly came to impose_ via its tremendous economic growth, rising social contentment and technological advance_ its military strength, industrial might as well as, religious entrenchment. Being an Extremely _ethnical and generational_ diverse country, a controversial phenomenon spurt to foster the generational gap in general and family values conflicts in particular. Families for instance were already drawn by the extended absence of fathers, who served in World War Two as well as technological advance. That phenomenon, that turned moral values upside down, helped erode the social and cultural stigma attached to the aged, involving: good manners, moral values, virtues and all the ideals which the Founding Fathers had almost perfectly shaped, for the sake of the coming American generations. In short, moral erosion left the door open to a current of permissiveness and immoral tolerance during the sixties, heavily enhanced by a so-called sense of modernity. That phenomenon was vehicled by an extravagant young population who adhered to principles in total contradiction with those of their parents. It was an unstable, unbalanced and ultra-tolerant society. However, the firm support to social values along with Christian morals of a conservative movement nominated the Religious Right, proved nevertheless during the seventies to fifty percent control the situation. They came out with a new religious, social and political agenda to get rid of the seeds of permissiveness that were a real threat to the basic traditional Christian moral values. The Religious Right engaged in local battles to restore: school- prayers, text-books, contents concerning evolution. And led a moral fight against: taxation of private Christian schools, pornography, feminist and gay movements, abortion, etc. Actually, to save a contemporary American middle class family _that seemed lacking the elementary precept well-structured into one major concept know as the social and family ethical code_ a spirit of duty should be commonly shared by the members of the American society in general and family in particular, as an ethos that realizes true conventional welfare and moral goodness.