A Tentative Study Of Changes Of Women's Roles: 1920-1960

The four decades from 1920 to 1960 witnessed the nation zigzagging through the prosperity, depression, recovery, war and revival, providing the dramatically changing historical background for changes, permanent or temporary, dramatic or trivial, for women's economic roles, political role, as well as roles in family and marriage. The era has been considered as an uneventful low tide between the two waves of American women's movements; however, it could not be achieved with one bound. The change of women's multiple-roles surely had impact on the rise of the second wave and the development of women's movement in the long run.Adopting the sociological theory of role change and role balance as the research methodology, the thesis makes a tentative study of women's role changes under the specific historical background of the four decades. With the role changes as the main content, the study will discuss the transitions of women's roles and the impetuses, and explore the impact of the transitions on women's movements, in the hope of providing a new perspective for study of women of the specific period.During the forty years from 1920 to 1960, American women experienced changes of domestic, political, and economic roles, while making significant contribution to the survival and development of the family and the society at large. The study will make analysis of role transitions in domestic realm, political area and work place, and of the elevation of their self-awareness. Furthermore, efforts will be made to explore the impetuses from aspects of socioeconomic transformations, mainstream views of mass media, and psychological explanations.The study finds out that the economic-contribution factor, among many others, carried much weight with women's role changes in family and society at large. This conclusion bases on the fact that the transition, from being confined in household as a subordinate to men to participating in more social activities, was to a great extent due to women's outstanding performance of the economic role in the dramatically changing times.