HIST 2600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Roaring Twenties, Mass Production, William Jennings Bryan
Document Summary
In 1924. a husband and wife research sociologist team, robert and helen lynd pioneered social surveys in muncie, indiana. They chose there because they believed it represented the life of ordinary americans in the contemp period. Since they wanted to keep it anonymous, they gave it the name of middletown. This was symbolic as they believed it represented the average experience of ordinary americans. They originally wanted to study the religious role in life, but it expanded, and they decided to look at the entire social structure, examining marriage, making a living, to leisure time. By making comparisons to data collected in 1890, they attempted to measure how much change ad occurred in the us. They found that there had been significant changes. In the homes there, they found hot and cold running water, flushing toilets, refrigerators, etc. People went to the movies, had cars, which lead to more "leisure" in and out of the cars.
