America Car Essay

• The growth of car ownership helped facilitate the expansion of suburban living, most evident in the 1950s.
• Car ownership extended travel and leisure activities, from drive-in theatres to restaurants, motels and shopping malls.
• The car was important in improving material prosperity thorugh the central role it played in manufacturing, inlcuding those directly employed in associated industries.
• The car took on symbolic significance, it acted as a measure of economic status.
• Negative aspects of the car included the rise in road traffic, accidents, and growing problem of pollution and congestion.
• The dominance of cars led to the decline of alternatives to the car, hindering the life of the minority who could not afford a car.
• Other consumer goods such as the television were significant, in the 1950s they brought entertainment into the home and shaped a 'stay at home lifestyle.'
• Changing economic conditions shaped the quality of life, boom of the 1920s and economic affluence in 1950s.
• Government anti-poverty policies helped improve economic conditions and hence the quality of life.