American History

American culture has gone through numerous changes over the years but major revolution came immediately after the Second World War. The introduction of television and its massive popularity virtually changed the dynamics of American culture and charted new courses for American cultural milieu. This change, however, started before the WWII when Black Americans started integrating the mass popularity of jazz and basketball into the mainstream American culture and as a result saw an increasing amalgamation, acceptance, and improving race relations. TV played a greater role during those years at it virtually revolutionized fun and entertainment and caused a paradigm shift in American culture.

Second World War was the harbinger of change in the United States. New cultural waves in America, however, started rippling before the onset of WWII as Black Americans started making daring moves to streamline jazz, basketball and black culture and take the popularity of sports and music as a tool for improving race relations. According to Tabery (2008), jazz and basketball started the process of racial assimilation that ultimately resulted in the abolishment of Jim Crow Laws as these cultural attributes popularized American Black culture

Spigel (1992), however, asserts that the introduction of television revolutionized American culture and played an important role in creating a new culture, which made great strides towards racial assimilation. Two-thirds of Americans had a TV in their living room by 1955 (p.1) and the social and racial tones of soap operas heavily influenced their way of thinking.

Both authors have dissected the conflagration of racial boundaries and the shaping up of a new American pop culture. Spigel has raised valid points about the role TV played in defining the new American lifestyle but has generally evaded the issue of broader racial integration. Tabery has explained in detail the role of jazz and basketball in the 1930s American culture and the breaching of racial boundaries but has abstained from a detailed analysis of American cultural norms prevalent in the 1940s and the role of TV.

American Culture went through radical changes in the 1940s and 1950s and Spigels theory of television playing a pivotal role in shaping American culture holds more ground. Television demolished racial barriers and brought major changes in American lifestyle. People literally worshipped TV during those years (with many even stopped going to movies and theatres) and it thus played a major role in revolutionizing American culture.