10 Economic and Social Change After 1945 Free Online FlashCards

What drove rapid growth in Western Europe and Japan after World War II?

Western Europe and Japan rebuilt factories, transportation networks, and cities, while production, productivity, and incomes rose.

What did collective bargaining help workers negotiate?

Collective bargaining helped workers negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions with employers.

How did the U.S. civil rights movement challenge racial discrimination?

It used boycotts, sit-ins, marches, court cases, and political organizing to challenge racial segregation and discrimination.

What is a welfare state?

A welfare state uses public policies to protect people from risks such as unemployment, illness, poverty, and old age.

What helped consumer goods become more prominent after 1945?

Rising wages, mass production, expanded credit, and new housing helped make consumer goods more prominent in everyday life.

What factors contributed to the postwar economic boom?

Reconstruction, investment, expanding trade, new technologies, and government policies prioritizing employment all contributed. Historians debate how much the Marshall Plan caused European growth.

How did the oil shocks of the 1970s affect postwar prosperity?

The oil shocks helped drive inflation and economic uncertainty, making rapid growth, low unemployment, and expanding public services harder to sustain.

Which workers often faced unequal treatment amid industrial growth?

Women, racial minorities, and migrants often faced unequal pay, discrimination, or exclusion from better-paid jobs.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 establish?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 established major legal protections, though inequality and discrimination persisted.

Which programs did governments expand after the war?

Many governments expanded or strengthened social insurance, pensions, health care, education, housing programs, and unemployment support.

How did welfare-state approaches to benefits differ?

Some systems tied benefits to employment and insurance contributions; others aimed to provide services more universally.

What made Britain’s National Health Service a notable welfare-state example?

Launched in 1948, it became a prominent example of publicly funded health care available without payment at the point of service.