things to find pleasure; they will not even need to work hard in school. Bell states that the new culture that developed by 1960 that focused not on discipline, but on instant gratification, would be a huge detriment to American society. America by 1960 was in the middle of many social and economical changes. Farber described these “truths” as issues that were battling against each other. For example, we have talked a lot about consumer culture and its affects on society. Farber is saying that by the time 1960 rolled around consumer culture was in a full-scale battle with America’s traditional values. The materialistic society that was booming by 1960 was slowly dissolving the important values of hard work and discipline. People no longer labored with skill to produce things, or felt gratification in their work. They were told by big businesses and advertisements that they were only to feel gratification in the material things that they purchase. Another battle of “truths” that was underway by 1960 was a between the rich and the poor. American’s in the fifties developed a sense of national patriotism, a celebration in honor of the countries great abundance. What they failed to recognize was though the suburbs were flourishing, the cities were declining in wealth. What suburbanites also failed to recognize was that most of the people living in the run-down cities were African Americans. Therefore, the battle between ignoring the state of America’s inner cities, and recognizing the inequality of the poor African American families, raged into 1960 as well. It is possible that in the spirit of Farber’s statement about truths being on a collision course, that the reason for the explosive politics and movements of the 1960’s were due to domestic battles that developed long before the sixties ever began. David Farber stated that the country by the close of the nineteen-fiftie...
