The 1920s was a time of great cultural change, and these reform movements got more widespread attention and popularity when mass media was finally developed. Mass media is a form of communication that reaches millions of people, back in the 1920s these forms of communication included newspapers, radio, and movies. With more and more awareness of these social and cultural reform movements many Americans began to fear these changes, they felt that these alterations posed a threat to their traditional American way of life. One attempt to stop this change was established by the 18th amendment of the Constitution. This amendment started Prohibition which was a "total ban on the making, selling, and transporting of liquor." Though Prohibition was created with good intentions it divided the nation, in many areas the demand for alcohol lad people to do illegal acts to obtain it. Prohibition led to a rise in crimes as well as led to the eruption of illegal bars, called speakeasies, in many cities.  Gangsters took advantage of this demand for alcohol and began to make and sell illegal alcohol, due to this they were able to make millions of dollars in profits. As crime rates began to go out of control Americans began to realize that the Prohibition had failed and so it was quickly overturned by the 21st amendment in 1933.         

Perhaps the biggest social change that occurred during the 1920s had to do with women's rights. On August 26, 1920 women finally got the right to vote after the 19th amendment to the U.S constitution officially took affect, this amendment promised women that their right to vote would "not be denied" based on their gender. During this time more and more women began to step out of their traditional roles in domestic work and began to work outside of their homes. Many became teachers or office workers, while some began professional careers like running for political office. However, the main symbol for these "liberated" women were the flappers. Flappers were considered carefree young women who known for their "bobbed" hair, heavy makeup, and short skirts, which was completely against the traditional ways women used to dress.    

The examples of the clash of cultures between old and new values shown above also happened in religion too. On March 13,1925 Tennessee made a law in which it became illegal to teach evolution in schools. Evolution is the scientific theory that humans evolved over vast periods of time, many people did not want to believe this theory as it went against their traditional Christian teachings about the creation of humans. However, a man named John Scopes ignored this law, and as a result he was brought to court for going against the law of Tennessee since he was teaching evolution in his high school. One side of this matter was the fundamentalists who were christians that believed in strictly following the bible. Fundamentalists were against the theory of evolution since it did not follow the bible and their religious beliefs, the disagreement had gotten so serious that two famous lawyers were called upon to argue on the case. The end of the trial made it appear that some Christians were trying to force their religious beliefs on all Americans. The trial that took place during this time was called the Scopes Trial. 

The Scopes Trial or the Scopes Monkey Trial began on July 10, 1925 with much excitement. On the trial day crowds poured into the courthouse two hours before it was scheduled to begin, filling up the room and causing onlookers to spill into the hallways. The trial however, started very ironically as it began with a lengthy prayer which was unexpected as the trial was technically a fight between traditional religion and modern science. Meanwhile, when the trial was conducted , the outside of the courthouse had a circus like atmosphere with people setting up barbeques and playing carnival games, however this elation died out very quickly as tensions began to mount as to who would win the trial. The first day of the trial was mainly on the validity of the theory of evolution and on the Butler Act which was the law that made teaching evolution illegal in Tennessee. Both lawyers took on an aggressive strategy trying to prevent the other from saying their possibly strong closing arguments. The main argument that was made to describe why the Butler Act was unconstitutional was that it promoted only one particular religious view and was therefore illegal. However, Scope's lawyer realized that it was worthless to continue arguing on this point as no one was ready to believe that the theory of evolution was real and so he decided it would be best for his client (Scopes) to be found guilty. The jury took only nine minutes to pronounce Scopes guilty and he was fined $100. This trial was one of the first major incidents in which there was a strong disagreement between religion and science.