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Chapter 3

The Impact of World War I

AfterWorldWar I (1914–1918),the

cooperative family economy of the

previous century gave way to thefamily-

wage economy.For the first time in

history,male breadwinners were able to

support their families on their incomes

alone.Thecompassionate familybecame

the ideal family.In an attempt to

strengthen and stabilize the family,

writings on marriage promoted this

concept of the ideal family in the literature

of the time.In many ways,this

compassionate family model was similar

to the companionate model of the

previous century.Husbands and wives

were encouraged to be both friends and

lovers,and parents were instructed to be

“pals”to their children.Privacy became

the hallmark of the 20th-century family

(Coontz,1992).

The Great Depression.In 1929 the stock

market crashed,ushering in the beginning

of the Great Depression.The Depression

hit farmers particularly hard,not because

they lacked products to sell,but because

buyers were unable to pay enough for the

farmers to break even.Some farmers

dumped or burned their grain or

slaughtered their livestock in a desperate

attempt to uphold prices (U.S.

Department of Agriculture,2009).Sidebar

3.2 illustrates how some farmers suffered

and some farmers prospered.Between

1927 and 1934,one of

every 10 farmers lost their

farms.In the early 1930s,

nearly one half of the

farms sold were subject to

foreclosure (U.S.Census

Bureau,1949).Over 2

million people,including

children,roamed the

streets looking for jobs

and food (McNall,1983).

The Family in Distress.

The Great Depression is

often thought of as an

economic cataclysm,but the effects on the

family were also significant.During this

period,unemployment,low wages,and

needy relatives tested the limits of the

ideal (compassionate) family.As the

Depression progressed,more and more

men lost their jobs and were forced into

the streets to look for any work they could

find.Some were forced to steal food or

The Depression hit farmers particularly hard, not because they lacked products to sell,

but because buyers were unable to offer enough to allow the farmers to break even.

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