History 2132A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Dance Craze, Victorian Masculinity, Private Sphere
12 Dec 2016
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History 2132- Lecture 4
• 8 ID Questions have to answer 4→ from lecture outlines (12 and a half mins for each)
• Essay 2 options→ (55 mins) both on Electric Dreamland (understand basic arguments, with
examples)
• When answering questions support points with evidence from course (specific, detailed)→
Point, Proof, Analysis framework
• Answer what is being asked of you→ make sure info is about specific idea in question
• Illustrate the significance→ draw connections between concepts
• Write an outline before you start answering the essay question
Jazz Age
• 3 words used to describe: excess, hedonism, nihilism
• Excess: loud music, wild dances, colour
• Hedonism→ gender roles breaking down, racial barriers are breaking down as well
• Nihilism: underneath it all an intense cynicism
• Conflicting emotions→ globally
• All a far cry from the notions of Victorian gentility→ which are widely associated with origins
of 20th century
• Underneath Victorian society there were tensions→ which is what lead to the conditions that
created the jazz age
• Significant divide in Victorian society (class divide)
• Middle and upper worked very hard to distinguish themselves from lower classes→ through
refined moral standards, hard work, elevated leisure pursuits (high brow: art gallery, polo)
• In world of leisure created private and public amusements
• Gender relations: double standard existed
• Men’s domain was public sphere, success in public sphere was measured by ability to climb the
social ladder (upper to middle class), highly competitive and stressful environment, to succeed
required self discipline, will power, hard work→ all hallmarks of Victorian masculinity
• Women’s was private sphere→ where she instilled values of success in her children→ children
would be responsible for maintaining social hierarchy→ supposed to teach children sense of
duty, and moral code that would help them lead
• Men would instill in their sons values of men→ (hard work, duty)→ one of most important things
was their ability to channel their passions through will power→ passion seen as distraction from
success if you couldn’t control them
• Wife of business man was expected to conform to a sexual relationship that would not cause
their husbands any trouble→ docile, not cause any distractions
• Children and husband→ women had to provide environment that was nurturing
• This putting others before yourself→ supposed to teach daughters so they could keep the cycle
going
• Women were supposed to be everything that men were not→ refined, controlled, nurturing all
Victorian femininity→ purity was especially important
• Had to elevate themselves above the sexual desires of their husband→ sex strictly for
procreation→ not to unleash your passion
• DOUBLE STANDARD: men were able to go out and find outlets for their passions→ saloon
drink beer, mingle with lower classes, dance hall, vaudeville show, burlesque, red light district→
no respectable women could be seen in any of these places
• The core of their lives, men and women lived very separate lives
• Men could transgress racial and class lines to have fun→ women were prohibited from it
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Created stifling domesticity for women, and the family (no fun allowed)
• By 1890’s have new generation of young Americans coming of age in this environment→ time
of considerable change
• Youths not entirely willing to embrace social constraints that exist in parents generations
• Started to reject it→ began to question sexual roles
• Looked at amusement as more fun than stuff being offered to them
• Youths beginning to get access to means to assert their own independence→ jobs becoming
available (corp emerging)
• For women this was an opportunity→ game changer→ need for clerical staff, women could take
on these positions, earn their own money, could start to go to college→ created more
autonomy, feelings of independence
• Women started to ask for more out of marriages→ wanted a partnership
• Wanted a little more passion/spontaneity→ could be done in world of leisure
• Start to break away from culture of their parents→ explore amusements available to them
(vaudeville, movies, dance halls)→ women could take advantage of this and do some of these
things on their own
• Older generation want to retain their traditional values→ see vulgar amusements as dangerous,
sign of moral decay
• Hold on culture is beginning to weaken
• Traditional individuals see this as the breaking down of the family→ mixing with the lower sorts
Dance Craze
• Because women were involved private dances protected them from the lower classes
• Lower class dance halls were next to saloons→ unions and social clubs would hold dances
• Dances next to a saloon so they could drink/have fun break away
• What distinguished the 2 groups dancing the lower classes were dancing to music that was a lot
more fun→ African American roots
• Waltz→ Middle class dance→ very formal
• Embodied the disembodied love of the Victorian era
• Dance was a way to break away from the Victorian traditional values for the younger
generation
• Dance madness cut across gender and class lines
• Allowed young married women to dance next to unmarried women
• Catered to the new mood around the younger generation→ particularly appealing to young
women→ taste of independence→ had money to spend on leisure pursuits
• Looking for an escape→ dance hall provided this
• Older generation not happy with the dance clubs→ provide opp for close physical contact,
passion running wild
• Sense that this is going to be the end of society
• Upper class didn’t like that these dances were coming from people who were marginalized
in society→ immigrants, African American, Latino’s
• Their main problem: a mixing of the classes→ next generation was mixing with the lower
classes→ ultimate sign of moral decay
• This was going to break down the moral restraint that women needed to show→ this meant
they wont be able to provide a stable home life→ threaten ability to raise good children
• Fear was this would ultimately lead to lowering of society→ lead women to prostitution
• Now had pleasure loving women, who would destroy men because they wouldn’t help them
control their passions but rather further them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
