Editing Baby boomers (section)

==== Popular culture ====
[[File:Family watching television 1958 cropped2.jpg|thumb|An American family gathering to watch television (1958)|alt=An American family gathering to watch television (1958)]]
The arrival of the [[television set]] made it possible for a family of modest means to be entertained in ways previously reserved for the wealthy.<ref name="Hobsbawn-1996" /> [[Soap opera]]s—characterized by melodramatic plots focused on interpersonal affairs and cheap production value—are a genre that was named after being sponsored by soap and detergent companies. They proved to be popular in the 1930s on radio and migrated to television in the 1950s. Again successful in the new broadcast environment, many of their viewers from the 1950s and 1960s grew old with them and introduced them to their children and grandchildren. In the United States, soap operas often dealt with the various social issues of the day, such as abortion, race relations, sexual politics, and inter-generational conflicts,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shaath|first=Sarah|date=March 27, 2019|title=Decline of soap operas: Was OJ Simpson to blame?|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47585335|access-date=November 3, 2020|archive-date=November 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107231628/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47585335|url-status=live}}</ref> and they often took positions that were, by the standards of their day, progressive.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ali|first=Lorraine|date=March 2019|title=For 70 Years, the Soap Opera Has Shaped American Pop Culture|work=Smithsonian Magazine|department=Arts and Culture|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/for-70-years-soap-opera-shaped-american-pop-culture-180971439/|access-date=November 3, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030232547/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/for-70-years-soap-opera-shaped-american-pop-culture-180971439/|url-status=live}}</ref> In Europe, and especially in the United Kingdom, the top soap operas typically featured working- or middle-class people, and most soap operas promoted post-war [[Social democracy|social-democratic]] values.<ref>{{Cite news|last=O'Donnell|first=Hugh|date=February 17, 2015|title=Why the soap opera is in terminal decline|work=The Conversation|url=https://theconversation.com/why-the-soap-opera-is-in-terminal-decline-37669|access-date=November 3, 2020|archive-date=April 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414125110/https://theconversation.com/why-the-soap-opera-is-in-terminal-decline-37669|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:Londons Carnaby Street, 1966.jpg|thumb|Young people in London (circa 1966). Prosperity played a role in shaping the youth culture of the 1960s.|left]]Following the Second World War, the United States was not just a land of peace and prosperity but also of anxiety and fear, of cultural deviancy and ideological subversion. And one victim of said paranoia was comic books.<ref name=":0" /> Comic books were blamed for the rise in [[juvenile delinquency in the United States|juvenile delinquency in that country]] because a number of juvenile offenders admitted to reading them.<ref name="Mooney">{{cite web |last=Mooney |first=Joe |date=April 19, 1987 |title=It's No Joke: Comic Books May Help Kids Learn to Read |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1987/8701100104.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20100117192458/http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1987/8701100104.asp |archive-date=January 17, 2010 |access-date=September 23, 2008 |work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]}}</ref> This culminated in the book ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'' (1954) by [[Fredric Wertham]],<ref name="Mooney" /> causing a decline in the comics industry.<ref name="Mooney" /> To address public concerns, in 1954 the [[Comics Code Authority]] was created to regulate and curb violence in comics, marking the start of a new era, the [[Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age of American comics]], which lasted until the early 1970s.<ref name="Blumberg">{{cite journal |last=Blumberg |first=Arnold T. |date=Fall 2003 |title='The Night Gwen Stacy Died': The End of Innocence and the Birth of the Bronze Age |url=http://reconstruction.eserver.org/034/blumberg.htm |url-status=dead |journal=Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture |issn=1547-4348 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116034408/http://reconstruction.eserver.org/034/blumberg.htm |archive-date=January 16, 2010 |access-date=February 20, 2009}}</ref> Unlike those of the Golden Age, stories from the Silver Age moved away from horror, and crime.<ref>See, e.g. {{Cite book |last=Robbins |first=Trina |author-link=Trina Robbins |title=From Girls to Grrrlz |publisher=[[Chronicle Books]] |year=1999 |location=[[San Francisco, California]] |pages=45, 52–54, 67, 69–70, 76–77 and throughout}}</ref> Plots shifted towards romance and [[science fiction]], deemed acceptable by the Code.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Simonson |first=Louise |title=DC Comics Covergirls |publisher=Chartwell Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-7858-3436-6 |location=New York |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> For a variety of stories and characters, scientific-sounding concepts replaced magic and gods.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Callahan |first=Timothy |date=August 6, 2008 |title=In Defense of Superhero Comics |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17623 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429080152/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17623 |archive-date=April 29, 2009 |access-date=September 5, 2008 |website=Comic Book Resources}}</ref> Many plots were [[Escapism|escapist]] fantasies and reflected the cultural zeitgeist of the day, featuring traditional [[family values]] (with an emphasis on gender roles and marriage) as well as gender equality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Landry Q. |title=Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Warrior |publisher=DK |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4654-6072-1 |location=New York |pages=68–71 |chapter=The Silver Age}}</ref>

[[J. D. Salinger]]'s ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' (1951) attracted the attention of adolescent readers even though it was written for adults. The themes of adolescent angst and alienation in the novel have become synonymous with [[Young adult literature|young-adult literature]].<ref name="Owen">{{cite journal |last1=Owen |first1=Mary |date=Mar 2003 |title=Developing a love of reading: why young adult literature is important |url=https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=200305405;res=IELAPA |journal=Orana |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=11–17 |issn=0045-6705 |access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> But according to [[Michael Cart]], it was the 1960s that saw the maturing of novels for teenagers and young adults.<ref>Cart, p. 43,</ref> One early example of this genre was [[S. E. Hinton]]'s ''[[The Outsiders (novel)|The Outsiders]]'' (1967). The novel features a truer, darker side of adolescent life that was not often represented in works of fiction of the time.<ref>Jon Michaud, [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/hinton-outsiders-young-adult-literature "S. E. Hinton and the Y.A. Debate"], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 14 October 2014</ref><ref>Constance Grady,"[https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/6/26/15841216/outsiders-harry-potter-ya-young-adult-se-hinton-jk-rowling The Outsiders reinvented young adult fiction. Harry Potter made it inescapable.]," ''[[Vox (website)]]'', 26 January 2017</ref> Written during high school and written when Hinton was only 16,<ref name="penguin">{{cite web |title=''The Outsiders'' |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/536555/the-outsiders-by-se-hinton |access-date=18 November 2019 |publisher=Penguin Random House}}</ref> ''The Outsiders'' also lacked the nostalgic tone common in books about adolescents written by adults.<ref name="Peck">{{Cite news |last=Peck |first=Dale |date=2007-09-23 |title='The Outsiders': 40 Years Later |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/review/Peck-t.html |access-date=2024-05-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''The Outsiders'' remains one of the best-selling young-adult novels of all time.<ref name="Peck" /> ''[[Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.]]'' (1970) by [[Judy Blume]] was another major success.<ref name="holmes">{{cite magazine |last=Holmes |first=Anna |date=March 22, 2012 |title=Judy Blume's Magnificent Girls |url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/judy-blumes-magnificent-girls |access-date=April 5, 2016 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=April 13, 2023 |title=Time 100 |url=https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/ |access-date=April 15, 2023 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> Blume was one of the first novelists who focused on such controversial topics as masturbation, menstruation, teen sex, birth control, and death.<ref name="hclib">{{cite web |year=2015 |title=Pen Pals with Judy Blume in conversation with Nancy Pearl |url=http://www.supporthclib.org/event/pen-pals-with-judy-blume-in-conversation-with-nancy-pearl/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504232033/http://www.supporthclib.org/event/pen-pals-with-judy-blume-in-conversation-with-nancy-pearl/ |archive-date=May 4, 2016 |access-date=April 5, 2016 |publisher=Friends of the Hennepin County Library}}</ref><ref name="edwards">{{cite web |year=1996 |title=1996 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner |url=http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/margaretaedwards/maeprevious/1996awardwinner |access-date=April 5, 2016 |publisher=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). American Library Association}}</ref>
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