Designing for the Life Span Segment 2
Designing for the Life Span Segment 2 
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[D]
Transition and Change in America's Way of Life and Work.
From the end of Word War II until the mid-1980s, America goes through a rapid spiking of employment in hard goods manufacturing- peaking in the early 70s. Industrialization- prompted by Henry Ford at the turn of the century is in decline by the 1980s.
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America emerged from World War II as a superpower with an intact industrial complex and the ability to distribute goods and services worldwide. With many countries in Europe in ruins as well as other countries in Asia devastated by the war, America became not only an instrument of rebuilding, it became the dominant economic force on the planet. By 1960, manufacturing in all sectors employed 60% of all workers in any segment of the economy. New family formations after the war required housing. Births among new families swelled school populations. Houses in the new electrified suburbia required appliances, families required automobiles, etc. At the same time, after just five decades, the family farm population had declined from 85% of the American population to just 3%. Agri-business expanded - but subsistence level family farming was no longer the American way of life.
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