History 476

Devine

Summer 2010

Study Questions for June 9

 

Hine, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager, Chapter 11 “Dead End Kids”

 

1.    Why does the author see the economic conditions of the 1930s and the emergence of high school as the common experience of young Americans as coming together to create a paradox?

 

2.   How did the New Deal play a key role in the creation of the teenager? Why does the author argue that the NYA was a response to problems the New Deal itself had created?

 

  1. Why did many American adults believe they had good reason to fear young people during the 1930s?  Were such fears warranted?

 

  1. Radicals hoped that bleak economic conditions would turn American young people into revolutionaries.  Why didn’t this happen?

 

  1. Why could one argue that the Scottsboro Boys incident had as much to do with class as it did with race?

 

  1. What was the purpose of the CCC?  How did those who joined the CCC respond to the program? Why does the author argue that the value of the CCC was “limited”?

 

  1. What challenges did schools face during the Depression?  Why does the author argue that educators dealt poorly with working-class students?

 

  1. According to Hine, why was “hanging around the filling station” a “more effective educational experience than going to high school” for many male teens? (219)  How did the “car culture” prepare teens for their future?

 

  1. Why did a distinct youth culture become less visible during the 1930s?  Why did young people no longer drive popular culture?

 

  1. How did dating and attitudes toward sex change between the 1920s and 1930s?

 

  1. How did portrayals of youth in the movies change between the 1920s and 1930s?  How did adults interpret these portrayals differently than young people?  How did the movies and comic books reinforce young people’s image of themselves?

 

 

Erenberg, Swingin’ The Dream, Chapter 2

 

1.       How did the economic hardship of the Depression reduce the differences among young people?  To what extent did swing culture reflect this trend?

 

 

2.      What were the criticisms leveled against swing?  Why did most parents take these criticisms with a grain of salt?  How did the defenders of swing respond to the critics?

 

 

3.      How did technological advances – radio, jukeboxes, and movies with sound – make swing music more inclusive and break down barriers between urban and rural and black, white, and brown young people?

 

 

4.      In what ways had the dance ballrooms of the 1930s become more democratic and inclusive than the nightclubs of the 1920s?

 

 

5.      How did the swing dances and song lyrics allow audiences to escape the dreariness of the Depression?  How had dancing changed?  How had song lyrics changed from the sentimental and self-pitying “torch songs” of the early 1930s?

 

 

6.      How did swing dancers’ fashion reflect the democratic nature of swing culture?

 

 

7.      How would you characterize the relationship between swing performers and swing audiences?

 

 

8.      What evidence does the author cite to demonstrate that swing fans were not just  uncritical “passive receivers” of musical entertainment, but took an active part in creating a democratic culture around swing music?

 

 

9.      How would you define “mass democratic culture”?  According to Erenberg, how did swing produce “a revitalization of mass democratic culture”? (64)