Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture - Paperback

by Robert S. Lynd (Author), Helen Merrell Lynd (Author)

2025 Reprint of the 1929 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. A classic, influential study of the average American town where the heart of America is located. In this famous study of day-by-day 'living' in a representative small American city, you may find a complete picture of our culture. Making a Home, Getting a Living, Training the Young, Spending Leisure, Carrying on Government, Religion--all these divisions of our complex round of life are examined in detail. Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, published in 1929 by sociologists Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, is a groundbreaking sociological study that examines life in a typical American small town. Set in "Middletown"-a pseudonym for Muncie, Indiana-the book explores how industrialization, technology, and societal changes have impacted family life, work, education, religion, and leisure in the 1920s. By analyzing a broad spectrum of daily activities, the Lynds provide an in-depth portrait of American middle-class life, capturing the cultural shifts and tensions of the time. Middletown remains a classic, offering valuable insights into the roots of American culture and modern social dynamics.

Chapters Include: Nature of the investigation -- The city selected -- The historical setting -- The dominance of getting a living -- Who earn Middletown's living? -- What Middletown does to get its living -- The long arm of the job -- Why do they work so hard? -- The houses in which Middletown lives -- Marriage -- Child-rearing -- Food, clothing, and housework -- Who go to school? -- The things children learn -- Those who train the young -- School "life" -- Traditional ways of spending leisure -- Inventions re-making leisure -- The organization of leisure -- Dominant religious beliefs -- Where and when religious rites are carried on -- Leaders and participants in religious rites -- Religious observances -- The machinery of government -- Keeping healthy -- Caring for the unable -- Getting information -- Things making and unmaking group solidarity.