History 476

Devine

Spring 2007

 

Study Questions for March 20th

 

James Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage, pp. 3-23

 

  1. How was antagonism toward mass culture during the 1950s both old and new?

 

  1. Why does Gilbert call the “seduction of the innocent by culture” an “episodic notion”?  What are the characteristics of episodic notions?

 

  1. Who were some of the combatants in the dispute over mass culture in the 1950s?  According to Gilbert, what were they really arguing about?

 

  1. What was the central argument of the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham?  Why did it win popular support during the late 1940s and 1950s?

 

  1. What aspects of teenage behavior during the 1950s fascinated and repeled American adults?  How did teenage behavior change between World War II and the 1960s?

 

  1. Why were large comprehensive high schools the focus of adults’ concerns during the 1950s?

 

  1. How did postwar prosperity fuel the generation gap?

 

  1. What contributed to adults’ perception that teens were creating a “premature adult culture”?

 

Bradford Wright, “Youth Crisis: Comic Books and Controversy, 1947-1950”

 

  1. The author argues that the attack on comic books masked larger and more complex concerns confronting Americans after World War II.  What were some of these concerns?

 

  1. What factors set the comic book controversy apart from previous attacks on popular culture as the “corruptor” of youth?  What role did World War II play in fueling concerns about mass media and juvenile delinquency?

 

  1. Why did comic books as a medium draw such negative publicity?  What were some of the specific criticisms leveled against comic books?

 

  1. How did the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s emphasis on social-psychological theories lead to his attack on comic books?

 

  1. What arguments did Wertham make against comic books?  What were some of the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments?

 

  1. Why were Wertham and the grassroots anti-comic book crusaders an odd match?  How did the “elitist” critique of the comics differ from the criticisms of more conservative institutions like the Catholic church?

 

  1. What was the significance of the Supreme Court Case Winters v. New York?

 

  1. Why does the author argue that Wertham was wise to understate his view that the consumer economy caused juvenile delinquency?