History Suggests Positive Lessons, Community Values Came From Great Depression

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In this four minute video, Great Depression historian Robert McElvaine describes research that shows how economic downturns can lead people away from conspicuous consumption to a more community-oriented way of life.

McElvaine wrote a book called "Down and Out in the Great Depression," a collection of letters that people wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt. The letters revealed people were willing to get by with less, and share more with those less fortunate.

"Under the impact of the Depression, people started thinking that, well, maybe all these material things -- even food -- as long as you've got enough to get by on is not as important as it is to have these values of working together with others," McElvaine explains.

McElvaine also looks at movies, such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "The Grapes of Wrath", which celebrated community-oriented values and inspired Americans to judge others by their compassion and character, rather than what they owned.

Quotes

"Just one plain, simple rule: Love thy neighbor. And in this world today, full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a great trust." - Jimmy Stewart, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

"Almost nobody even looking at the good community values that emerged or re-emerged during the Great Depression would think it would be a good idea to have another Great Depression to bring those out." - Historian Robert McElvaine

"I really believe that trying to move away from such an emphasis on consumption as a way of life is something that, while it's going to be bad for the economy in the short run, is something that we really desperately need to do." - Historian Robert McElvaine

Warm Up Questions

1. What was the Great Depression?

2. What are some good things that might come out of a severe recession?

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think Americans are becoming more community-oriented? Why or why not?

2. Do you think Americans consume too much?

3. What are the good and bad aspects of consumption?

4. What changes to American culture would you like to see come out of this period of economic hardship?

Comments

Posted:
03/30/09 at
09:39 PM

Jay L : I am a middle school teacher and feel that year-round schooling would benefit students, teachers, administrators and taxpayers alike. Scores would improve, students (as well as teachers) would not burn out during long consecutive days in class, students would not lose what they had learned over the long summer break, and parents would not have to find child care for their children for extended months. The main problem would be breaking tradition and getting a school board to vote against angry parents whom would most definitely argue against this drastic change. Year-round schooling would be beneficial, but maybe we should change the name so we can get more support for it.
Posted:
01/13/11 at
06:24 AM

Nausicrate : The Depression caused Americans who had bought into the radical new values based on consumption to step back and reconsider them. The collapse of an economy based on consumption and hyper-individualism was seen by many as chastisement for having allowed themselves to be enticed away from the older ways that, deep down, they still believed were right. Among the more striking changes in values evident during the Depression was a turnaround in the viewpoint on small communities expressed in the culture. Small towns had often been castigated in the 1920s, for example, in the novels of Sinclair Lewis. After the collapse, however, there was a growing trend toward appreciation of the sense of place and belonging associated with such communities (although usually not in a completely uncritical way). This movement in attitudes is evident in the films of Frank Capra and John Ford, in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town (1938), the 1939 film classics The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, and Norman Rockwell's paintings of scenes of small-town life that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, among many other cultural products of the era. Rolex Prices Rolex Submariner

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Posted:
03/30/09 at
09:39 PM

Jay L : I am a middle school teacher and feel that year-round schooling would benefit students, teachers, administrators and taxpayers alike. Scores would improve, students (as well as teachers) would not burn out during long consecutive days in class, students would not lose what they had learned over the long summer break, and parents would not have to find child care for their children for extended months. The main problem would be breaking tradition and getting a school board to vote against angry parents whom would most definitely argue against this drastic change. Year-round schooling would be beneficial, but maybe we should change the name so we can get more support for it.

Posted:
01/13/11 at
06:24 AM

Nausicrate : The Depression caused Americans who had bought into the radical new values based on consumption to step back and reconsider them. The collapse of an economy based on consumption and hyper-individualism was seen by many as chastisement for having allowed themselves to be enticed away from the older ways that, deep down, they still believed were right. Among the more striking changes in values evident during the Depression was a turnaround in the viewpoint on small communities expressed in the culture. Small towns had often been castigated in the 1920s, for example, in the novels of Sinclair Lewis. After the collapse, however, there was a growing trend toward appreciation of the sense of place and belonging associated with such communities (although usually not in a completely uncritical way). This movement in attitudes is evident in the films of Frank Capra and John Ford, in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town (1938), the 1939 film classics The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, and Norman Rockwell's paintings of scenes of small-town life that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, among many other cultural products of the era. Rolex Prices Rolex Submariner