Electrification was crucial for the consumption of the new types of durable items, and the fraction of U.S. households with electricity connected nearly doubled between 1921 and 1929, from 35 percent to 68 percent; a rapid proliferation of radios, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators followed. There are two simple reasons why. Though the television sets that carried the advertising into peoples homes after WWII were new, and were far more powerful vehicles of persuasion than radio had been, the theory and methods were the same perfected in the 1920s by PR experts like Bernays. Kyrk argued for ever-increasing aspirations: "a high standard of living must be dynamic, a progressive standard", where envy of those just above oneself in the social order incited consumption and fuelled economic growth. Stuart Ewen, in his history of the public relations industry, saw the birth of commercial radio in 1921 as a vital tool in the great wave of debt-financed consumption in the 1920s a privately owned utility, pumping information and entertainment into peoples homes.. We publish thought-provoking excerpts, interviews, and original essays written for a general reader but backed by academic rigor. African American and Latino families received no support from the government. Predicated on debt, it took place in an economy mired in speculation and risky borrowing. As the economic engine slowed in the 1970s, productivity waned, wages flattened, and Americans faced an energy crisis that reshaped consumer expectations. Demand for them must be elaborately contrived, he wrote. Birds of a Feather Shop Together: Conspicuous Consumption and the Imaging of the 1980's Essex Girl Rachel Rye 4. 5 Ways to Connect Wireless Headphones to TV. 898 Words 4 Pages Decent Essays Read More Similarities And Differences Between The 1950s And Present-Day Consumerism In The 1950's. The 1950s was an exciting time for many, the war was over and the economy began to flourish once more. "Many of the products they are trying to sell have, in the past, been confined to a 'quality market'. As Daily Life in 1950s America puts it, "along with rising incomes, easy credit, and fear of being left behind with outmoded products, aggressive marketing in the form of slick advertising campaigns fed the culture of consumerism." While some items found in the average home are still the standard to this day, other fads were just plain bizarre . *This is an edited version of an article thatoriginally appearedinThe MIT Press Reader, and is republished with permission. During the 50s, there was a deeply ingrained social stigma against divorce, and the divorce rate dropped. But its evident that 1950s did in fact produce the troubles of the. Energy prices increased at a slower pace, while there was a pickup in prices for manufactured goods and services. Discrimination was widespread. Illuminating the bold ideas and voices that make up the MIT Press's expansive catalog. After World War II, consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire. In the text book it talks about the specific effects the Great Depression had on all types of people. throwaway. Its major cities were still bombsites, it was almost impossible for many. People, of course, have always "consumed" the necessities of life food, shelter, clothing and have always had to work to get them or have others work for them, but there was little economic motive for increased consumption among the mass of people before the 20th Century. Racism was also a huge factor that seems to be hid by the appearance of the 1950s. 4. We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate, retail analyst Victor Lebow remarked in 1955. Industry insiders, journalists, and the public criticized the crass and manipulative aspects of advertising. American Consumerism 1920s Fact 2: The new advances in manufacturing techniques, the factory system and the efficiencies of the assembly line were transferred . Workers voted for it by three-to-one in both 1945 and 1946, suggesting that, at the time, they still found life in their communities more attractive than consumer goods. The proliferating shops and department stores of that period served only a restricted population of urban middle-class people in Europe, but the display of tempting products in shops in daily public view was greatly extended and display was a key element in the fostering of fashion and envy. The prospect of ever-extendable consumer desire, characterized as progress, promised a new way forward for modern manufacture, a means to perpetuate economic growth. If profit and growth were lagging, the system needed new impetus. The consumer revolution that occurred in the 1920s gave Americans prosperous hope for the future of the United States of America. Americans purchased homes, cars (sometimes two), television sets, new home furnishings, modern refrigerators, clothes for work and their new found leisure time, barbeque grills, lawn mowersthe list is endless. The people became comfortable on how they were living their lives. During the 1950s, the federal government started to close in on cigarette . Motor car registration rose from eight million in 1920 to more than 28 million by 1929. Consumption is now frequently seen as our principal role in the world. From 'Make do and Mend' to 'Your Country Needs You to Spend': Constructing the Consumer in Late-Modernity Alison Hulme 3. This was particularly true of women. The 1920s was a time of great change. In 1930 the U.S. cereal manufacturer Kellogg adopted a six-hour shift to help accommodate unemployed workers, and other forms of work-sharing became more widespread. In the same vein, during the Q&A after a talk given by the Australian economist Clive Hamilton at the 2006 Byron Bay Writers Festival, one woman spoke up about her partners priorities: Rather than entertain questions about any impact his possessions might be having on the environment, she said, he was determined to go down with his gadgets., The capitalist system, dependent on a logic of never-ending growth from its earliest inception, confronted the plenty it created in its home states, especially the United States, as a threat to its very existence. The 1950s were sometimes referred to as "the advertiser's dream decade." By striving to buy the productsay, wall-to-wall carpeting on instalmentthe consumer is made to feel he is upgrading himself socially. There were three major manufactures that still hear about and still have. A national conversation about television and the common good fostered public broadcasting. There, especially in the US, consumption continued to expand through the 1920s, though truncated by the Great Depression of 1929. The opening page of Propaganda discloses his solution: The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Consumer prices increased by 0.9% in February following a 0.4% rise in January. It would not do if people were content because they felt they had enough. mass media forms of communication, such as newspapers and radio, that reach millions of people Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Government agency that grants licenses to radio and television stations and sets regulations on them. A thing may be desired, not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of something else, the desire for which he is ashamed to admit to himself because it is a symbol of social position, an evidence of his success. Strong consumer spending led to even more demand for clothingand accessories to accompany every style. Dr Matthew White describes buying and selling during the period, and explains the connection between many luxury goods and slave plantations in South America and the Caribbean. Entertainment. U.S. consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s, with banks engaged in reckless lending of all kinds. Madison Avenue was $12.3m, in 1950, $40.8m, and in 1951, $128m. In 1959 the Mattel toy company introduced Barbie. It was an idea also put forward by the new "consumption economists" such as Hazel Kyrk and Theresa McMahon, and eagerly embraced by many business leaders. Consumer Culture In the 1950s consumption became the reigning value and essential to individual's identity and status and satisfaction was achieved through the purchase and use of new products. Consumers and the economy immediately saw an upsurge in new consumer products. 50,000,000. number of tv sets by 1960. Though it is status that is being sold, it is endless material objects that are being consumed. Conformity Consumerism: The theory that a country that consumes goods and services in large quantities will be better off economically. African Americans were the first ones to be laid off. But, while poorer people might have acquired a very few useful household items a skillet, perhaps, or an iron pot the sumptuous clothing, furniture, and pottery of the era were still confined to a very small population. The Consumer Era, 1940s-1970s Postcard of Eichler home, 1950s During the Consumer Era, production boomed and consumerism shaped the American marketplace, which spread from cities to suburbs. The main thing Americans miss about the those days is the stability. First we share the belief of the American people in the principle of Growth, the report maintains, specifically endorsing ever more luxurious standards of consumption. To Galbraith, who had just published The Affluent Society, the wastefulness he observed seemed foolhardy, but he was pessimistic about curtailment; he identified the beginnings of a massive conservative reaction to the idea of enlarged social guidance and control of economic activity, a backlash against the state taking responsibility for social direction. Although the period after World War II is often identified as the beginning of the immense eruption of consumption across the industrialized world, the historian William Leach locates its roots in the United States around the turn of the century. Some memorable TV spots during this time period were for Alka-Seltzer, Ajax, and Frosted Flakes. This was followed by a rapid proliferation of radios, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. This department store took window shopping to a new level with a machine called the "Tell-it-to." 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