History 474B

Devine

STUDY QUESTIONS for Thomas Hine, THE GREAT FUNK

You should print these questions and then go over them to prepare for the quiz. If you jot down notes in the blank space between each question as you read or after you read, it will help you prepare for both the quiz and the discussion. You might also jot down the page number or numbers where the answers appear in the book. This will help you if you end up writing a paper on this book.

1. Why were bicentennial celebrations uninspiring to many Americans?

2. What limits – physical, economic, environmental – did Americans encounter during the 1970s?

3. According to Hine, why can the realization “that you don’t live in a perfect world” be “deeply liberating?”

4. Why was the end of Life and the publication of People emblematic of the 1970s?

5. How does the author define “funk?” Why does he choose this word to characterize the 1970s?

6. Why does Hine label the 1970s the “decade where everything shattered?”

7. What sorts of new communities emerged in the 1970s and what did they hope to achieve?

8. Why and how did Americans’ living spaces change in the 1970s?

9. Why does Hine choose the disco ball and the photo of the earth as contrasting metaphors for the public mood during the 1970s?

10. What was it “too late” for – and was it really too late or was this a misperception?

11. How did television shows and movies express the concerns of the American public during the 1970s?

12. How did automobile manufacturers respond to the era of limits?

13. In what ways did Americans “tweak” their use of energy in the 1970s?

14. How could achieving a higher consciousness be accomplished? In what ways could it be rewarding?

15. What was consciousness raising and how did women’s groups in particular use it?

16. How were Billie Jean King, Phyllis Schlafly, Mary Tyler Moore, and Dolly Parton different embodiments of the changing direction of women’s lives in the 1970s?

17. What new significance did the past take on in the 1970s? How did the past become visible?

18. What controversies surrounded the greeting on Pioneer 10 and what do they tell us about the 1970s?

19. What new views about sexuality and sexual identity took hold in the 1970s and why?

20. What were the sources of inspiration for 1970s fashion? How did Americans combine the artificial and the natural to express themselves? How did they fuse the traditional and the personal?

21. How did clothing serve as “costumes” for performers/celebrities and average folks?

22. What brought about a new focus on houseplants?

23. Why and how did home furnishings change?

24. What were the causes and effects of more and more Americans living alone?

25. What happened as baby boomers entered the work force and started families in the 1970s?

26. Why and how did the arrangement and use of office space change?

27. What changes in tastes and trends signified an end to the 1970s? To what degree were major problems of the 1970s resolved by the early 1980s?

28. What light does Hine’s book shed on the 1970s? What would you say are his “big ideas”? Which of Hine’s insights did you find particularly convincing or revealing? Were there arguments or observations you found unpersuasive?