Ronald Oakley God's Country America In The Fifties Summary

Historians agree that a generation “gap” was created in the 1950s between parents and teenagers, but not everyone agrees as to what caused American families to dismantle from its traditional cores and values. Some historians theorize that the introduction of Rock ‘n’ Roll is what caused the youth of that generation to separate from its’ parents and other adults. As J. Ronald Oakley proves in his essay, “God’s Country: America in the Fifties”, teenagers were not changing their values and morals, but instead were simply adapting to the growing changes occurring in America around them at that time. Within his essay he attributes some of the changes in America’s youth to factors such as the end of The Great Depression and World War II which led …show more content…
What were once small localized gangs were growing larger and more widespread than ever before, some even went international. Juvenile delinquents were also committing more violent and senseless crimes than older generations. It seemed as though every time a newspaper or magazine was opened, parents were exposed to more and more reports of juvenile crimes having been committed. Oakley attributes this to the introduction of modern communication. Because gang members tended to dress alike, speak the same jargon, the majority carried weapons, drank alcoholic beverages and took drugs; a stereotypical image of a juvenile delinquent was created in the minds of society. Teenagers across the board were being labeled as delinquents and rebellious, even if they had no involvement in criminal activities or gangs, but if they fit the stereotype such as sporting a ducktail haircut, wearing tight pants and leather jackets, etcetera. Oakley disagrees and states that most teenagers were not criminal or rebellious, but that it was an exaggerated fear was placed in the minds of adult by the media combined with the fact that logically the higher number of teenagers increased the number of crimes