Once again, wisdom from perhaps the most piercing social commentator of our age.
Fiftiesism is just a repackaging of something said by (among others) the anonymous author of
The Interior Life. Said author called it what it is:
materialism in piety. He did so in the last part of the 19th century, well before any of our modern ecclesiastical 'heroes' were born.
Yes, the 50s was a spectacular manifestation of the illness diagnosed long before; however, Fiftiesism is (imo) a poor, inaccurate name for the phenomenon.