Emphasis Preaching Journal

Robert and Helen Lynds were sociologists who studied the lifestyles of Middle America, selecting the city of Muncie, Indiana, as their centerpiece. Their conclusion, briefly summarized, is that men worked long hours and women took jobs outside of the home, both to the detriment of the family, in order to purchase displays that would cause envy among their neighbors. They published their book Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture in 1929, prior to the stock market crash and the Great Depression.