The Pursuit for the Perfect Family: The 1950s Movement to Maintain the Moral Code and Ideals of the American Nuclear Family

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar V
  In Paper Session: Morality in Movements: The Ethical and Unethical Driving Forces Behind Social Movements and Their Effect on Society

Abstract

This essay explores the moral code and values of white middle-class families in the United States throughout the 1950s by examining the society that was anxious to keep the establishment versus the people of the 1960s who adamantly opposed it. The paper addresses the nuclear family and the social roles that members of this family (the father, mother, brother and sister) take on. In addition, the institution of marriage, the role of male versus female children, various moral ideals and conformity are analyzed. The author examines television shows of the 1950s, including “Ozzie and Harriet” and “Leave it to Beaver,” that glorified the nuclear family as a way to validate the lifestyle of the establishment. The essay concludes with a loss of the perfect nuclear family ideal and the evolution of the modern family which embraces single parent, interracial and homosexual households.

Author

• Laura Vann, Lynn University