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Ethan Benjamin Patrick Jeffery

Professor Thompson

ENGL 1301

April 11, 2022

Didn’t I Just Write a Paper on This for My Rhetorical Essay?

We read an excerpt from, The Quest for Community, by Robert Nisbet, a University of

California at Berkeley professor. He wrote eighteen books, this being the most significant. He

was a conservative who supported abortion and opposed President Ronald Reagan’s foreign

policy. This excerpt describes Nisbet’s view that the core institutions of everyday American’s,

i.e. family, neighborhood, and church, have lost their influence of the moral unification of

society.

Historically, these three groups provided our moral compass into economic and political

order. Although Nisbet does not specify why this ceased to continue to be the moral compass,

much changed with World War II and post-war times. Women had gone to work during the war

and started learning about politics and participating in not only their family’s economic future,

but also in the greater American future. By the early 50s, the men had returned from war and

wanted their jobs back, and many women were fired. They began to rebel against this citing

that they had been just as capable during the war and they were still just as capable after. Likely

at this same time, women started reading newspapers and listening to their coworkers, many of

whom were likely men. At the same time, men were looking for ways to regain this “control”

over their families and themselves. They’d experienced war and wanted something more in-line
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with their beliefs about society and moral values. Although it was just beginning, the 50s was a

time for women’s independence from family. The began realizing that although their husband

had been the bread-winner, they could provide for their family, too, and did not have to put up

with a lot of the moral inequities that men had put them through. Yes, they’d gone to church,

but many men did not live the way they claimed, and instead were abusers, alcoholics, and

womanizers.

All that is said, not to condemn men, but to say that this is what was happening in

society in the 1950s. Men began seeking new influences, too. Television was taking off and

everyone was finding them in their homes. This had a large impact on families, with the News

being televised, Leave-it-to-Beaver, Gunsmoke, Annie Oakley, and I Love Lucy, etc, not all shows

upheld the values of our churches. After World War II ended, the military ended segregation

which coincided to be just a few years before the Korean War. White men had to learn that

black men could definitely be counted on and fought right beside them. Other organizations

that had or have an impact on people are the Boy Scouts, the Masons, and Boys and Girls Club

of America, but I’m not sure that it made such a difference since they were all part of the

community.

Looking back in time and what ended the influence is quite difficult. For me to watch I

Love Lucy or Leave-it-to-Beaver and know that Nisbet was stating that the family, church, and

community no longer had a significant influence on people is startling. It seems so stereotypical;

the 50s housewife with an apron on, dad coming home from work and reading the newspaper,

smoking a pipe and the whole family going to church every Sunday. Look at us now; we’re so
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unchurched, disconnected from family, and often have no idea who our next-door neighbor is!