An Affluent Society

Running head: AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY
AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY
The paradox of the ‘Affluent Society’ refers to the great inequality among the masses
which prevailed despite the economic boom that had brought about prosperity in the post war
economy of the United States of America. On one hand there was an unprecedented rise of the
middle class who had immense amount of purchasing power who had imbibed the culture of
consumerism in them, while another section of the society was deprived of all the benefits of the
developments that had taken place and racialism was one of the reasons behind the incongruent
distribution of the benefits of the economic boom, which was manifested in the overwhelming
majority of the white population in the sub-urban neighbourhoods with the people of colour
forming a miniscule minority.
‘The move to the suburbs also promoted Americanization, cutting residents off from
urban ethnic communities and bringing them fully into the world of mass consumption. But if the
suburbs offered a new site for the enjoyment of American freedom, they retained at least one
familiar characteristic- rigid racial boundaries (Foner, 24).’
This particular quotation shows that the urban centers were the focal point if
discrimination against the people of colour who were categorically discriminated against and
were subjected to marginalization. Ghettoization of the black communities and the jeopardization
of their prospects of rising up the social ladder was something in which the government
decisions and the private enterprises, namely the real estate developers, the financial institutions
as well as the residents were complicit. Despite the decision of the Supreme Court of outlawing
all forms of racialism, the federal financial institutions had tried to create obstacles in the path of
resale of apartments to the people of colour. Not just the institutions, but also the general public
had expressed an antithetical attitude towards having a person of colour in their neighbourhood.
Thus there was a symbiotic relationship between the general white population and the