Perceptions of what was needed for contentment changed after World War II when America prospered like never before. This was the beginning of the Technological Age in which circumstances like the availability of the automobile to every family, made suburban life an option like never before. The effect was that most middle class families who had sacrificed so much during the depression could own more than they had imagined. Almost all could afford whatever was necessary.
As a result, the public bought everything it needed which was great for industry, that is, until they stopped buying. So, industry began a new marketing technique in order to sell the public what it did not really need. They accomplished this by appealing to their emotion and desire for fashion. This was unheard of for most who had grown up in homes like these in Greenbelt. Suddenly, items which differed only in fashionable design became the selling technique and America bought it. This began what Hine refers to as the Populuxe Era and "one of history's great shopping sprees" (p. 3)
In contrast to their having done without so much, obtaining material things began a new definition for how to obtain the American Dream...
