The purpose of this assignment is to develop a parallel analysis of your primary sources. This means analyzing more than one primary source and identifying the various elements both sources have in common. Your essay should do two things: it should describe both your sources, and then tie them together and explain not only how they are similar, but how one helps explain the other and vice versa. In this case, I have already identified the theme all the primary sources above have in common—social
conformity. Tell me how your sources call attention to the issue of social conformity and why there was such pressure to be like everyone else during the postwar period.
IMPORTANT: You must analyze both sources. If you analyze just one, you will only receive partial credit.
For this essay you’ll need to consult the Power Points on postwar society and culture: the one on the Baby Boom, Economic Boom, etc.; the one on women, social conformity, and television; and the PowerPoint on the politics (mostly foreign policy) of the Cold War.
The focus of this paper is on textual analysis, so be sure to include each of the following in your essay:
1. Description (exposition): This is the basic, most elementary form of writing. Before you can say anything about anything, you must first say what it is that you intend to discuss. Describe the source you are analyzing. Mention the title, author, and date of the source. Also describe the content of the book or story. What is the book’s main argument? What is the plot of the story?
2. Context (explication): You MUST provide some historical context for your sources. Who was the author? Does their biography explain anything about the source? Just as important, what was going on in the U.S. before or during the year the source was produced? Does the source lend support to a particular political issue or social condition, or is it criticizing a particular political issue or social condition? Is it calling for change, or just griping about a particular problem? Also, to what end or purpose do you think the source was intended? Who was its intended audience? Does the source directly comment on current events? Does it have an obvious, or not so obvious, political or social bias?
3. Analysis (argument): What conclusions based on your description and the historical context you’ve outline can you can you arrive at regarding the source? Is the source representative of the context you’ve outlined—that is, does it support or confirm the basic terms of the context you have provided—or does it differ from, or critique, its historical context? More importantly, how does your source support or criticize the era in which it was produced? Be as specific as possible. Use direct quotations to illustrate and support your claims regarding the source’s treatment of the topic at hand.
Questions to consider (these are meant to give you ideas; you don’t have to answer every one of these questions):
What is Packard’s main argument? Why do you think he is so concerned with how middle-class Americans conduct their lives? What aspects of middle-class life does Packard discuss and analyze? What are some of the key features of middle-class status? For instance, how does one know they are middle class? What kind of jobs does Packard identify as being above or below the middle class? What kind of objects did middle-class Americans seek to possess or consume to demonstrate their social status?
How does the television program you have chosen deal with the issue of social conformity? Who in the story is being made to conform to social norms or standards? Do they conform to those norms, or do
they resist conforming in some way? If they resist, are there social costs for resisting? More importantly, what is the message of the show? Does it support social conformity, or dies it critiquing social conformity in some way
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