what was consumerism in the 1950swhat was consumerism in the 1950s

Consumerism refers to the field of studying, regulating, or interacting with the marketplace. 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. Its apparent the 1950s & 1960s varied from one another. While some of the youth became politically active, others escaped into the counterculture disbanding their faith in government and the ideals, In her essay, What We Really Miss About the 1950s, Stephany Coontz talks about the myth of the 1950s. At the start of the decade, there were about 3 million TV owners; by the end of it, there were 55 million, watching shows from 530 stations. Quite the reverse: frugality and thrift were more appropriate to situations where survival rations were not guaranteed. 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. World War II greatly stimulated Americas economy by creating millions of jobs and nearly wiping out unemployment. For those who do not know exactly what happened in the Great Depression and just figure it was a time of famine and unemployment and wasn 't thought of as a big deal, but it sure was. Even if a shorter working day became an acceptable strategy during the Great Depression, the economic systems orientation toward profit and its bias toward growth made such a trajectory unpalatable to most captains of industry and the economists who theorized their successes. US consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s,. 898 Words 4 Pages Decent Essays Read More Similarities And Differences Between The 1950s And Present-Day Scrappy upstarts challenged established networks, innovated programming, and catered to under-served audiences. However, over the course of the 20th Century, capitalism preserved its momentum by moulding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for its "wonderful stuff". In 2008, a similar unraveling began; its implications still remain unknown. Due to high levels of industrial outs, wages were also increased. The 1950's was the decade of change. The Czech writers darkly humorous novel, published in 1936, anticipated our current reality with eerie accuracy. 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. The 1950s was a decade most do not pay much mind to due to it typically being seen as untroubled and quiet, although many things both good and bad, were growing under the surface. The stage was set for the democratization of luxury on a scale hitherto unimagined. Additionally, disagreements and rebellions. TV marketing made it the worlds best-selling toy. The consumer revolution that occurred in the 1920s gave Americans prosperous hope for the future of the United States of America. Watch on. 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. By 1951, regular TV programming reached the West Coast, establishing national coverage. "Goods are plentiful. Bernayss views, like those of several other analysts of the crowd and the herd instinct, were a product of the panic created among the elite classes by the early 20th-century transition from the limited franchise of propertied men to universal suffrage. American Consumerism 1920s Fact 1: During WW1 (1914 - 1918) manufacturing, production and efficiency had increased through necessity in order to meet the demands of the war effort. The rise of consumerism in the 1950s gave a new meaning to the concept of the American Dream. 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. 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. They started new lives in suburban, middle class utopias hoping to achieve the American dream (Shmoop Editorial Team). U.S. 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. This is done by dangling the products before non-upper-class people as status symbols of a higher class. Code of Regs., tit. The prospect of ever-extendable consumer desire, characterized as progress, promised a new way forward for modern manufacture, a means to perpetuate economic growth. The 1950s are most often remembered as a quiet decade, a decade of conformity, stability, and normalcy. What of the appetite itself?, he asks. 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". Consumer Spending, 1950-1960. marketing strategy convincing American consumers they need new and better products. In 2008, a similar unravelling began; its implications still remain unknown. Key events across the decade and the world include the beginning of the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the first ever Organ Transplant and the introduction of Coloured TV. See how consumerism flourished through advertising, higher. Post World War I, the era marked the beginning of modern times with new and worthy developments. Unlike most dolls at the time, Barbie was a grown-upa teenage fashion model who could date, drive, and wear fabulous clothes. Progress was about the endless replacement of old needs with new, old products with new. While often criticized for her unrealistic physical proportions and for promoting gender stereotypes, Barbie has also evolved with the times to reflect social and cultural changes in American culture. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. Driven by a thriving postwar economy, designers utilized bold styling to transform everyday objects into visually expressive items, and manufacturers unleashed an array of products to keep pace with demand. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, written by Todd Gitlin, explains the rebellious youth movement, highlighting activist group, Students for a Democratic Society, the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Between 12th and 14th Streets 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. However, automobiles like the Chevrolet, the Rambler and the Hudson Hornet were huge successes when it came to consumerism in the economy. The 1950s was the decade of change. Consumerism for example, is an industrial society that is advanced, a . . 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". In the 1950s, the relatively new technology of television began to compete with motion pictures as a major form of popular entertainment. This research paper briefly gives examples from advances in technology, transportation, and entertainment while discussing their benefits to the United States. People were encouraged to board an escalator of desires and progressively ascend to the luxuries of the affluent (Credit: Getty Images), Charles Kettering, general director of General Motors Research Laboratories, equated such perpetual change with progress. Key events across the decade and the world include the beginning of the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the first ever Organ Transplant and the introduction of Coloured TV. Some messages were so strong that people were told they weren't patriotic if they chose to save money instead of spending it. The historian Benjamin Hunnicutt, who examined the mainstream press of the 1920s, along with the publications of corporations, business organizations, and government inquiries, found extensive evidence that such fears were widespread in business circles during the 1920s. throwaway. 50,000,000. number of tv sets by 1960. he asks. Families had 30% more spending power in 1959 compared to 1950 figures. However over the course of the 20th century, capitalism preserved its momentum by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an unquenchable thirst for its wonderful stuff.. In these circumstances, there was a social choice to be made. The introduction of time payment arrangements facilitated the extension of such buying further and further down the economic ladder. The 1920s bonanza collapsed suddenly and catastrophically. Yet in the literature of the resource problem this is the forbidden question.. It would not do if people were content because they felt they had enough. 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. These views parallel political economist Joseph Schumpeters later characterization of capitalism as creative destruction: Capitalism, then, is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is, but never can be stationary. The fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers, goods, the new methods of production or transportation, the new markets, the new forms of industrial organization that capitalist enterprise creates. Predicated on debt, it took place in an economy mired in speculation and risky borrowing. Although inflation has shown signs of peaking . In a 1929 article called Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied, he stated that there is no place anyone can sit and rest in an industrial situation. 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. Franchising increased after 1950 and offered Americans the opportunity to own a small business. Despite fierce competition from radio and television advertising, print advertisements remained an influential advertising medium in the 1950s. An excerpt from the celebrated 19th-century photographer's memoir "When I Was a Photographer.". In 1930, Kellogg adopted a six-hour shift to help accommodate unemployed workers. The 1950s was characterized as a prosperous and conformist for several reasons. "What of the appetite itself?" There were three major manufactures that still hear about and still have. Attempts to promote new fashions, harness the propulsive power of envy, and boost sales multiplied in Britain in the late 18th century. Consumerism and innovations had a large role throughout the time periods. US consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s, with banks engaged in reckless lending of all kinds. All of these topics reshaped and created several advancements throughout society during the 1950s. 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. African American and Latino families received no support from the government. In 1959 the Mattel toy company introduced Barbie. Manufacturers in the automobile industry, would make small changes to every years model. Ewen found Bernays, a key pioneer of the new PR profession, to be just as candid about his underlying motivations as he had been in 1928 when he wrote Propaganda: Throughout our conversation, Bernays conveyed his hallucination of democracy: A highly educated class of opinion-molding tacticians is continuously at work adjusting the mental scenery from which the public mind, with its limited intellect, derives its opinions. Throughout the interview, he described PR as a response to a transhistoric concern: the requirement, for those people in power, to shape the attitudes of the general population. During the 1950s, the automobile industry saw growth and change, particularly in its design departments. While it was a lot less in gross terms than the burden of debt in the US in late 2008, the debt of the 1920s was very large, over 200% of the GDP of the time. In Australia, too, the trend could be observed; there, however, the base was tiny, and even though car ownership multiplied nearly fivefold in the eight years to 1929, few working-class households possessed cars or large appliances before 1945. It would not do if people were content because they felt they had enough. During the 1950s, a sense of uniformity pervaded American society. "America at this moment," said the former British Prime. Basically, it means that purchasing certain material goods is likely to increase the level of satisfaction with life. Teenagers as a consumer group - "SELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" Life. "Many of the products they are trying to sell have, in the past, been confined to a 'quality market'. In Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s, Traci Parker offers a historical link between the current struggles and the Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth century. But postwar industrial enterprise stoked the expansion nonetheless. Superman, The Lone Ranger. In both eras, borrowed money bought unprecedented quantities of material goods on time payment and (these days) credit cards. 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. Consumerism is the concept depicting the belief that happiness and well-being depends to a significant degree of personal consumption. TV ads evolved with the creative revolution and the civil rights movement, embracing hip consumerism and incorporating more underrepresented consumers. Free shipping for many products! The sixties was a decade unlike any other. There are two simple reasons why. Unless he 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. People would be encouraged to give up thrift and husbandry, to value goods over free time. U.S. consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s, with banks engaged in reckless lending of all kinds. Though it has become fashionable in recent decades to brand scholars and academics as elites who pour scorn on ordinary people, Bernays and the sociologist Gustave Le Bon were long ago arguing, on behalf of business and political elites, respectively, that the mass of people are incapable of thought. 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.. The game is to make them the necessities of all classes. Franchises were also a good deal for parent companies, shifting much of the risk to proprietors while requiring them to adhere to certain standards for branding and service. This first wave of consumerism was short-lived. Read about our approach to external linking. Working in the 1950's, however, was prohibited and deplorable because that meant you were not cooperating with the American system. Retailing was already passing decisively from small shopkeepers to corporate giants who had access to investment bankers and drew on assembly-line production of commodities, powered by fossil fuels. For example, some people consider the 1950s and 1960s as the 'golden age of consumerism'. 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.". 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. In researching his excellent history of the rise of PR, Ewen interviewed Bernays himself in 1990, not long before he turned 99. Unless he 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 his classic 1928 book Propaganda, Edward Bernays, one of the pioneers of the public relations industry, put it this way: Mass production is profitable only if its rhythm can be maintainedthat is if it can continue to sell its product in steady or increasing quantity. Today supply must actively seek to create its corresponding demand [and] 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. 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. The two decades led to historical breakthroughs as well as setbacks; they are imperative to the history of the United States. Firms began adding a few ethnic and racial minorities to their staffs. 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.. In the 1920s, the target consumer market to be nourished lay at home in the industrialised world. New needs would be created, with advertising brought into play to augment and accelerate the process. Dunkin' Donuts. 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. This department store took window shopping to a new level with a machine called the "Tell-it-to." At the same time he was well aware of the role of advertising: Goods are plentiful. But it ended with many Americans questioning the promises of consumer capitalism. Observing her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls, Ruth Handler (19162002) had the idea that dolls could be styled as adults. Here began the slow unleashing of the acquisitive instincts, write historians Neil McKendrick, John Brewer, and J.H. The non-settler European colonies were not regarded as viable venues for these new markets, since centuries of exploitation and impoverishment meant that few people there were able to pay. A new wave of consumerism swept across much of the population of the United States during the 1950s. New needs would be encouraged to give up thrift and husbandry, to value over. To every years model ; said the former British Prime industrial outs, wages were also increased on... As the & # x27 ; golden age of consumerism in the,! Meaning to the history of the resource problem this is done by dangling the products before non-upper-class as! 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