WHOA... very very good! disturbing amount of master theses that look at jackson's work thru a freudian or lacanian lens or something similarly base. however, i will paste some quotes below (not from a thesis! from "new world miniatures: shirley jackson's the sundial and postwar american society"):
 “But the text also implies that the nuclear family itself nurtures... tyrannical powermongering, by inculcating in family members a cult of reverence for the head of the household so intensively that envious aspirations to royal prerogative must inevitably be implanted in the souls of some.” 
 “Hinted at here is the strange irony of American social history mentioned earlier: the socially sanctioned belief in the prospect of a “world” that is radically "new", has particularly in the post- industrial era, encouraged middle class Americans to think small, and to look inward, which is also to look backward.” 
naturally, i don't know very much about american cultural anxieties during the cold war, but i thought this was still a splendid read. while reading, i thought of it as a critique/satire of white, suburban america and its desire for the 'past' and commodity-related anxieties. WAHOO!!!