Topic > Culture Clashes in the United States after World War I

After World War I, many men who had gone to fight in the war returned and wanted to take their jobs back from the women and African Americans who had taken them from America; since African Americans and women had been exposed to the taste of equality in factory jobs and good wages, they didn't want the shine to end. This conflict between the white men who had left America as educated people and the Africans and women caused much of the cultural clash in the 1920s. In a way, the nostalgia of men returning from war and of highly religious people contributed to the development of cultural clashes with people who favored change and growth beyond the First World War. Those who rejected nostalgia could live comfortably with little conflict. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Women, who had obtained jobs as nurses, factory jobs, and higher pay during the war, began to understand the power they had to make change in America; their women's suffrage movement was quite successful and taught them that they could be successful in other movements, especially in temperance, education, and science. The national WCTU, a women's group that grew up during this time, expressed the extreme confidence women had in their abilities through "Women Smokers," which outlined their goals to slow smoking and added an amendment against it to the Constitution (Doc E). This inspired conflict with the men, most of whom had fought in the war, who had made smoking a part of American culture. Women's goals often conflicted with those of fundamentalists because they were based on scientific principles that did not agree with the Bible or biblical studies. The movements led by these women, while inspiring some conflict, helped lead to the development of policies much later in the 1960s and 1970s, with cigarette regulation, the Green movement, and the political rights movement. While women and African Americans inspired many cultural conflicts in the 1920s, conflicts began to arise in science and religion as well. Companies like Coca-Cola, Ford, and Health Industries attempted to research scientific fields to develop products in the most effective way, and often, the results were directly at odds with Christian teachings. The theory of evolution was one of many scientific theories developed in this period, and was at odds with fundamentalists who held fast to their Christian faith. In the case of the Tennessee evolution, it is clear that scientific minds represent a new era of thinking, while fundamentalists remained nostalgic for the pre-war times, when nothing required reflection and thought. Mr. Bryan rejects all scientific hypotheses, while Mr. Darrow, a teacher, accepts them; Mr Bryan was more detached from the war than Mr Darrow and had not developed his beliefs with the times (Doc A). The clash between men and women became extremely evident as women gained more rights, led their own social lives and became more independent. Marriage rates between men and women suddenly dropped, demonstrating the amount of conflict that may have occurred between them, and divorce rates also increased (Doc F). During a period in which women became more independent, greater disagreements with men emerged and clashes between men continued..