Not only the head of the household was responsible for " outdoor affairs ", but his wife and children were increasingly involved in the labor market. Advances in medical care and better living conditions had sharply reduced death rates and extended the life span.
As American society was becoming more affluent and complex, it generated new institutions: schools, social clubs, political organizations and others that competed with the family to provide nurture, education, companionship and security. Ykt, the family had not lost its significance. It retained its fundamental usefulness as a cushion in a hard unfriendly world.
Even though the American nation was brought up on the frontier tradition of hard work and distaste for wasted lime, Americans carried out the leisure time revolution in the late 19th century. The Revolution was made possible by the invention of labor-saving devices. In addition to that, the work week was reduced for both factory workers and white collar employees. Vanguard of the leisure lime revolution was sports, of which football and especially baseball were popular among males. There were, of course, sports enjoyed by both sexes. Croquet, which swept the nation after the Civil War, was popular among middle and upper class people.
The revolution in social conditions pertained first of all to clothing styles. The constraints of Victorian fashion gave way to more comfortable and practical styles suitable for cycling, (which became very popular at the beginning of the 20" century). The freer styles of cycling costumes (divided skirts and simple undergarments) influenced everyday fashion. The rise of American show business in the first decades of the 20th century paralleled the rise of sports and likewise became a mode of leisure created by and for the common people. After the Civil war circuses could reach more of the country due to railroads, and the popularity of circus shows increased enormously. Circuses offered two main attractions: "freaks of nature" and "the temptation and conquest of death".
Several branches of American show business matured with the growth of cities. Americans used popular drama, musical comedy and vaudeville to escape from the harsh realities into melodrama, adventure and comedy. Virtue, honor and justice always triumphed in melodramas, reinforcing the popular belief that goodness would ultimately prevail in their uncertain and disillusioning world. Shortly alter 1900 live entertainment began to yield to an even more accessible form of amusement: moving pictures. All the new amusements and pastimes had a homogenizing influence, bringing together desperate social groups into a common lifestyle. This was the first major step to uniformity in lifestyles. Yet various groups strove to adopt leisure institutions in their individual way. Modern advertising molded people's needs and consumption patterns, and popular journalism began to spread mass culture countrywide.
By the early 20 century the communication media, like the mass consumption of goods were becoming commonplace. The major vehicles for ad- vertising were the newspaper and the mass circulation magazine. By 1920 the telephone was becoming a commonly used instrument.
The demands of industrial age on individuals threatened the traditional American values of family, nature, frugality and moral restraints. During the 1920s Americans developed new social values and new ways of life. Increasingly, people were splitting their daily lives into three distinct compartments: work, family and leisure. Each type of activity was altered in the 1920s. Time on the job got reduced. Among industrial workers the 5,5-day work week became a standard job benefit for white collar workers. As birth control became more widely accepted, birth rates dropped noticeably between 1920—1930. At the same period divorce rate rose. The adults devoted a smaller proportion of their lives to parental and other family tasks due to lower birth rates, more divorce plus longer life expectancy. Simultaneously, the availability of ready-to-wear clothes, preserved foods and mass-produced furniture meant that family members did not have to spend much time producing household items.
Instead of being a producer of food, clothing and offspring the woman now became a chief consumer, new machines lightened many of her chores. The availability of washing machines, hot water and a commercial soap put greater pressure on wives to keep everything clean. As a result, housewives retained a wide variety of responsibilities and added new ones as well. While family time shifted and work time decreased, non-work and non-family activities became wide spread. High school enrollment quadrupled between 1910—1929. With more people spending time away from work and family, new values were inevitable. In the 1920s clothes became a means to personal expression and freedom. Smoking, swearing and frankness about sex became more common.
Although the home management remained a chief female responsibility, women continued to stream into the labor force during the 1920s. Even married women joined the group of working women, a trend that has increased down to the present. During these years Americans developed a great thirst for recreation, to which entrepreneurs responded quickly. This decade marked the (lowering of numerous fads, frivolities and obsessions.
By the mid 1920s people were turning to crossword puzzles; a few years later they adopted miniature golf as their new craze. Throughout the decade dance fads attracted public attention, dancing Charleston. Radio music added to the growing popularity of jazz. For the first time in American history the nation was caught between 2 value systems. On the one hand, the puritan tradition of hard work, sobriety and restraint — "waste not, want not" — still prevailed, especially in rural areas. On the other hand, a liberating age of recreation, uninhibited sex and distractions attracted a considerable proportion of American people.
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