3.4 Review the history of the Great Depression and its impact on family life
As the nineteenth century pressed forward, families continued to be molded by different social class and race contexts, even though the ideal of the breadwinner/homemaker family remained. The United States entered the twentieth century in a period of economic transformation from an industrial society to a service and consumer society. Families of different social classes and races encountered very different opportunity structures.
The Great Depression of the 1930s profoundly influenced family life. Across the country, men and women were laid off. Wide-scale factory and business closings meant that there were few places where unemployed men could find work. Job competition was fierce. Wages were low. Those who were employed usually earned less than they had a decade earlier. The economic pressures placed on nearly all families during the Depression were harsh and affected family relations and family stability:
While nearly all families experienced some deprivation as a result of the Great Depression, the economic burdens were not equally shared across the social class and race divides. New research by family historians has found different kinds of dislocations experienced by families—in particular class and racial-ethnic groups. Even in periods of widespread economic dislocation, class and race remain important foundations for diversity in families.