Bernays and his PR colleagues believed ordinary people to be incapable of logical thought, let alone mastery of abstruse economic, political and ethical data., The commodification of reality and the manufacture of demand have had serious implications for the construction of human beings in the late 20th century, where, to quote philosopher Herbert Marcuse, people recognize themselves in their commodities. Marcuses critique of needs, made more than 50 years ago, was not directed at the issues of scarce resources or ecological waste, although he was aware even at that time that Marx was insufficiently critical of the continuum of progress and that there needed to be a restoration of nature after the horrors of capitalist industrialisation have been done away with., Marcuse directed his critique at the way people, in the act of satisfying our aspirations, reproduce dependence on the very exploitive apparatus that perpetuates our servitude. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. "Many of the products they are trying to sell have, in the past, been confined to a 'quality market'. Families had 30% more spending power in 1959 compared to 1950 figures. Yet in the literature of the resource problem this is the forbidden question. During the 1950s, the automobile industry saw growth and change, particularly in its design departments. Life. During the 1950s, a sense of uniformity pervaded American society. Cars were. We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate, retail analyst Victor Lebow remarked in 1955. 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. In fact, the American consumer was praised as a patriotic citizen in the 1950s, contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life. Absolutely Ethical? "Requiring no significant degree of literacy on the part of its audience, radio gave interested corporations unprecedented access to the inner sanctums of the public mind," Ewen writes. Television and radio super-charged advertising, directly into people's homes (Credit: Getty Images). But business did not support such a trajectory, and it was not until the Great Depression that hours were reduced, in response to overwhelming levels of unemployment. Unless [the consumer] could be persuaded to buy and buy lavishly, the whole stream of six-cylinder cars, super heterodynes, cigarettes, rouge compacts and electric ice boxes would be dammed up at its outlets.. In 1959, she convinced her husband, co-owner of Mattel, to develop an adult fashion doll, Barbie. Thus, just as immense effort was being devoted to persuading people to buy things they did not actually need, manufacturers also began the intentional design of inferior items, which came to be known as planned obsolescence. In his second major critique of the culture of consumption, The Waste Makers, Packard identified both functional obsolescence, in which the product wears out quickly and psychological obsolescence, in which products are designed to become obsolete in the mind of the consumer, even sooner than the components used to make them will fail.. The concept came about . Overall, products such as the washing machine and dishwashers made life easier and more efficient for families at home. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. US consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s,. Kentucky Fried Chicken weathervane, 1960s. Strong consumer spending led to even more demand for clothingand accessories to accompany every style. People would be encouraged to give up thrift and husbandry, to value goods over free time. Consumerism - The 1950's: An age of affluence Consumer Demand Spurs Economic Growth Rising incomes, easy credit, and aggressive marketing helped create a culture of consumption in the 1950s. 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 . 4 out of 5 families owned television sets, nearly all had refrigerators, and most owned at . US production was more than 12 times greater in 1920 than in 1860, while the population over the same period had increased by only a factor of three, suggesting just how much additional wealth was theoretically available. Men were back home and ready to work and women were back to doing their womanly duties again (cooking and cleaning) this reflected the social position of the women following the war. In the 1920s, the target consumer market to be nourished lay at home in the industrialized world. Basically, it means that purchasing certain material goods is likely to increase the level of satisfaction with life. If profit and growth were lagging, the system needed new impetus. In 2008, a similar unravelling began; its implications still remain unknown. Additionally, women changed their views on their place and role in the family. The notion of human beings as consumers first took shape before World War I, but became commonplace in America in the 1920s. In 2008, a similar unraveling began; its implications still remain unknown. Kellogg, however, gradually overcame the resistance of its workers and whittled away at the short shifts until the last of them were abolished in 1985. Innovations in technology, expansion of white-collar jobs, more credit, and new groups of consumers fueled prosperity. WWII had a major influence on changing American society because the growth it caused in the economy allowed African Americans and women to seek new opportunities. 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 a little-known 1958 essay reflecting on the conservation implications of the conspicuously wasteful U.S. consumer binge after World War II, John Kenneth Galbraith pointed to the possibility that this gargantuan and growing appetite might need to be curtailed. such as the early civil rights movement's demand for access to public accommodations in the 1940s and 1950s and the consumer and environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s . This was particularly true of women. Scrappy upstarts challenged established networks, innovated programming, and catered to under-served audiences. He argued that business "cannot afford to wait until the public asks for its product; it must maintain constant touch, through advertising and propaganda to assure itself the continuous demand which alone will make its costly plant profitable". Unlike most dolls at the time, Barbie was a grown-upa teenage fashion model who could date, drive, and wear fabulous clothes. From fashion to politics, this period is known as one of the most explosive decades in American history. This new burst in debt-financed consumerism was, again, incited intentionally. This first wave of consumerism was short-lived. It made possible for people and families to watch live events in the comforts of their drawing room. Some messages were so strong that people were told they weren't patriotic if they chose to save money instead of spending it. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, there were several highly-publicized espionage trials that convicted leading scientists and government figures of espionage, culminating in the 1953 execution of scientist Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel for passing information about the atomic bomb to Russia. Despite fierce competition from radio and television advertising, print advertisements remained an influential advertising medium in the 1950s. The main thing Americans miss about the those days is the stability. The stage was set for the democratisation of luxury on a scale hitherto unimagined. Since the 1980s she has taken on many new careers, from police officer to paleontologist to presidential candidate. Birds of a Feather Shop Together: Conspicuous Consumption and the Imaging of the 1980's Essex Girl Rachel Rye 4. 1950s American culture was characterized by a boom in consumerism, which bolstered the economy and left cultural impacts as well. USA in the 1950s - Consumerism Consumerism Consumerism After the Second World War, USA provided many European countries with loans, this was called the "Marshall plan". Edward Cowdrick, an economist who advised corporations on their management and industrial relations policies, called it the new economic gospel of consumption, in which workers (people for whom durable possessions had rarely been a possibility) could be educated in the new skills of consumption.. A handpicked selection of stories fromBBC Future,Culture,Worklife, andTravel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. Consumerism: The theory that a country that consumes goods and services in large quantities will be better off economically. 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. Significantly, it was individual desire that was democratised, rather than wealth or political and economic power. In 1930, the US cereal manufacturer Kellogg adopted a six-hour shift to help accommodate unemployed workers, and other forms of work-sharing became more widespread. The stage was set for the democratization of luxury on a scale hitherto unimagined. Over the course of the 20th century, capitalism preserved its momentum by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for more stuff. The 1950s are most often remembered as a quiet decade, a decade of conformity, stability, and normalcy. Shop Lululemon We Made Too Much For Up to 50% Off. If profit and growth were lagging, the system needed new impetus. Children were precious assets and the center of the family. 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. For instance, the Australian comedian Wendy Harmer in her ABC TV series called "Stuff" expressed irritation at suggestions that consumption is simply generated out of greed or lack of awareness: "I am very proud to have made a documentary about consumption that does not contain the usual footage of factory smokestacks, landfill tips and bulging supermarket trolleys. An excerpt from the celebrated 19th-century photographer's memoir "When I Was a Photographer.". These products included washing machines, dishwashers, frozen foods, television, microwave ovens, lawn mowers and automobiles. 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". Energy prices increased at a slower pace, while there was a pickup in prices for manufactured goods and services. In late 19th-Century Britain a variety of foods became accessible to the average person, who would previously have lived on bread and potatoes consumption beyond mere subsistence. After World War II, consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire. Superman, The Lone Ranger. In the 1950s, consumers made television the centerpiece of the home, fueling competition among broadcasters. Firms began adding a few ethnic and racial minorities to their staffs. In the text book it talks about the specific effects the Great Depression had on all types of people. People would be encouraged to give up thrift and husbandry, to value goods over free time. Over the course of the 20th Century, capitalism moulded the ordinary person into a consumer. Illuminating the bold ideas and voices that make up the MIT Press's expansive catalog. The labor struggles of the 19th century had, without jeopardizing the burgeoning productivity, gradually eroded the seven-day week of 14- and 16-hour days that was worked at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), African American History Curatorial Collective. It is a question of change, change all the time and it is always going to be that way because the world only goes along one road, the road of progress.". Dunkin' Donuts. But business did not support such a trajectory, and it was not until the Great Depression that hours were reduced, in response to overwhelming levels of unemployment. Coontz describes that when one takes a closer look at the 1950s they will realize that comparing it to the 1990s or the 21st century is absurd. "The cardinal features of this culture were acquisition and consumption as the means of achieving happiness; the cult of the new; the democratisation of desire; and money value as the predominant measure of all value in society," Leach writes in his 1993 book "Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture". By striving to buy the productsay, wall-to-wall carpeting on instalmentthe consumer is made to feel he is upgrading himself socially. The fifties were the decade of reform to the better led by president Eisenhower. 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. 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. This research paper briefly gives examples from advances in technology, transportation, and entertainment while discussing their benefits to the United States. United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) The annual inflation rate in the US slowed only slightly to 6.4% in January of 2023 from 6.5% in December, less than market forecasts of 6.2%. TV became the driving force for advertising. From 'Make do and Mend' to 'Your Country Needs You to Spend': Constructing the Consumer in Late-Modernity Alison Hulme 3. The traditional objective of making products for their self-evident usefulness was displaced by the goal of profit and the need for a machinery of enticement. Here began the slow unleashing of the acquisitive instincts, write historians Neil McKendrick, John Brewer, and J.H. Also, new ideas emerged, changing the look of families both then and now. There are two simple reasons why. To Galbraith, who had just published "The Affluent Society", the wastefulness he observed seemed foolhardy, but he was pessimistic about curtailment. The Australian comedian Wendy Harmer in her 2008 ABC TV series called Stuff expressed irritation at suggestions that consumption is simply generated out of greed or lack of awareness: I am very proud to have made a documentary about consumption that does not contain the usual footage of factory smokestacks, landfill tips and bulging supermarket trolleys. Motor car registration rose from eight million in 1920 to more than 28 million by 1929. But it ended with many Americans questioning the promises of consumer capitalism. After the tumult of the 1930s and 1940swith their sustained economic depression (1929-41) and world war (1939-45)the 1950s did seem quiet. 771 Words4 Pages. World War II greatly stimulated Americas economy by creating millions of jobs and nearly wiping out unemployment. In this era of staid gray flannel suits, advertisers developed motivational research, grappled with television, and cooperated with government to promote American enterprise. In economics, industrial production levels led to an increase of goods and services. Read page 1950 of the latest CBS+ news, headlines, stories, photos, and video from CBS News. *This is an edited version of an article thatoriginally appearedinThe MIT Press Reader, and is republished with permission. The Civil Rights movement was gaining speed and many became involved in political activism. The cardinal features of this culture were acquisition and consumption as the means of achieving happiness; the cult of the new; the democratization of desire; and money value as the predominant measure of all value in society, Leach writes in his 1993 book Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. Significantly, it was individual desire that was democratized, rather than wealth or political and economic power. Entertainment. The American home was at the center of post-war stability. She acknowledges that this fallacy is not insane. 5. Baby boomers came of age and entered colleges in huge numbers. The civil rights movement succeeded in bringing equal rights to the African American population within the United States in a peaceful manner thanks to meaningful art forms. The short depression of 19211922 led business leaders and economists in the US to fear that the immense productive powers created over the previous century had grown sufficiently to meet the basic needs of the entire population and had probably triggered a permanent crisis of overproduction. Further, there was a rise in consumerism which resulted in a domino effect on the economy. It was seen as the calm before the storm of social chaos that swept over the country in the more contentious 1960s. It was indeed a time we perceive as innocent, wholesome, and peaceful. 50,000,000. number of tv sets by 1960. Coontz explains that the sexism, As I mentioned previously, the sixties were a time of change. Although the period after World War Two is often identified as the beginning of the immense eruption of consumption across the industrialised world, the historian William Leach locates its roots in the United States around the turn of the century. During the 50s, there was a deeply ingrained social stigma against divorce, and the divorce rate dropped. 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. The 50s was a time of conformity while the 60s was a time of conflict and protest. New needs would be created, with advertising brought into play to augment and accelerate the process. 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. Kerryn Higgs is an Australian writer and historian. After WWI, America became one of the worlds most formidable superpowers. Consumer News More Consumer News. Usually that new thing in culture is associated with young people and perceived threats to its cultural identity. For instance, young people, watching their friends and family drafted into the Vietnam War, began to question traditional society and the government. In 1959 the Mattel toy company introduced Barbie. One of the most popular products in the 1950s was the TV. The 1950s Family. Discrimination was widespread. U.S. consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s, with banks engaged in reckless lending of all kinds. Progress was about the endless replacement of old needs with new, old products with new. Observing her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls, Ruth Handler (19162002) had the idea that dolls could be styled as adults. 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