Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
REASONS FOR, AND IMPACT OF, INCREASED LEISURE TIME, 1917-80 - Coggle…
REASONS FOR, AND IMPACT OF, INCREASED LEISURE TIME, 1917-80
1920s
Reasons for increased leisure time:
- Many Americans had higher wages and a shorter working week.
- Many Americans owned new labour saving devices.
- This resulted in them having extra time and money, spending it on leisure.
- 1929, Americans spend over $4 billion on leisure.
- Technological advances: mass production, e.g. cars - Ford Model T only cost $295 by 1925, so was affordable for many. This gave people more freedom and opportunity.
Impact of increased leisure time:
- Led to the entertainment, sport, and travel industries expanding.
- These industries generated wealth and employment.
- Individuals and families had more fun.
- Ads, movies, and travel helped standardise American culture.
Growth of spectator sports:
- Became a central element in many lives in the 1920s.
- Baseball was the most popular spectator sport.
- 1927: 20 million attended baseball games.
Impact of the growth of spectator sports:
- Generated massive profits.
- Helped people born into poverty become successful e.g. Babe Ruth.
GD and WW2
Leisure time helped maintain national morale:
- Millions went to the movies
- People still watched/listened to sports.
Number of sports spectators fell during the war, but many Americans still followed sport on the radio.
During the war, sports had significantly lower audiences:
- conscription
- long working hours in defence factories
- travel restrictions
- poorer quality players (as players went off to fight).
-
1950s
Impact:
- Tv, movies, music fuelled consumerism.
- Tourism boomed in the 50s; recreational travel became the norm for the middle class and lots of working class.
- Growth of tourism affected the economy, local and national cultures, and urban development.
Reasons for growth of tourism:
- Increased leisure time.
- Growing affluence.
- Improved roads.
- Car culture.
- Ads.
- Development of travel agencies and roadside facilities.
IMPACT OF TOURISM:
- Expansion of air travel, credit cars, motel, restaurant chains. This created jobs and benefitted the economy.
- Urban development e.g. LA attracted tourists, Las Vegas grew and prospered.
1960s
The impact of increased leisure time:
- Health clubs and sports industries boomed.
- Campaigns encouraged people to take up leisure that was 'self-fulfilling'.
- Recreational drug-taking grew, especially amongst young people.
- Drugs caused health and psychological issues.
- Many felt their lives had improved.
Growth of spectator sports:
- Sports was sold and shaped by the mass media, particularly TV.
- Spectating was a way of identifying with certain values, e.g. demonstrating patriotism by watching the olympics.
1968-80
Tourism boom intensified:
- White middle class- travel away from home was an indicator of participation in the American dream.
- Family car helped tourism boom e.g. new mass-produced RVs.
Impact of increased leisure time:
- Increased recreational travel helped create a more national culture.
- Increased travel opened up undeveloped/isolated areas.
- Increased travel sometimes brought prosperity to under developed areas.
-