Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit XI: Leader of the Free World: 1945-1975

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON AMERICAN-CULTURAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL LIFE IN THE 1950s

Lesson 3

1. Interview at least five persons who lived during the 1950s and were old enough to understand the impact on their lives of the new inventions and other technological developments of the era.

   You may create your own list of questions to ask and response categories if you will not use an open-ended response technique. However, that list of questions and those response categories must cover the same subjects as the following set of questions:

   1. economic impact: Did this invention create significant new industries or sources of employment or wealth? Did it make existing industries or sources of employment or wealth obsolete?

   2. cultural impact: Did this invention cause significant changes in the patterns of life for average Americans? Did it change important aspects of major cultural institutions (such as family, work, inheritance, education, law enforcement)? Was its impact on literature, art, and popular culture significant? Did it give rise to any important social or reform movements, or have a significant impact on existing movements?

   3. political impact: Did this invention change America's position in the world to a significant degree? Did it affect the ways that Americans conducted their politics? Did it affect the balance of power between the two political parties? Did it ever become an issue in national politics or a given political campaign?

2. Summarize your findings and draw conclusions about the impact of technological change in the 1950s.