1950s Important News and Events, Key Technology Fashion and Popular Culture. The twentieth century was a period of struggle in which the socialist countries, largely influenced by the former USSR, provided stiff competition to the united states, but Nevertheless, America has not been immune to pitfalls and struggle during its journey of success and it is by the dint of hard work, keen foresight and sharp business acumen Attempts to promote new fashions, harness the "propulsive power of envy," and boost sales multiplied in Britain in the late 18th Century. The historical issues and events of the fifties and sixties was often propelled by popular culture through art and media such as television, paintings and music. ", Factory workers icing a steady supply of biscuits in 1926 (Credit: Getty Images). The 1920s bonanza collapsed suddenly and catastrophically. 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.. Manufacturers in the automobile industry, would make small changes to every years model. Demand for them must be elaborately contrived, he wrote. 2. For instance, the development of the suburbs. Predicated on debt, it took place in an economy mired in speculation and risky borrowing. 771 Words4 Pages. But its evident that 1950s did in fact produce the troubles of the. In the 1950s, consumers made television the centerpiece of the home, fueling competition among broadcasters. planned obsolescence. Electrification was crucial for the consumption of the new types of durable items, and the fraction of US households with electricity connected nearly doubled between 1921 and 1929, from 35 to 68%. Ad agencies and broadcasters wrestled for control of advertising time and programming on television. Between 12th and 14th Streets It would be feasible to reduce hours of work further and release workers for the spiritual and pleasurable activities of free time with families and communities, and creative or educational pursuits. In the case of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a war economy followed, so it was almost 20 years before mass consumption resumed any role in economic life or in the way the economy was conceived. This was particularly true of women. *This is an edited version of an article thatoriginally appearedinThe MIT Press Reader, and is republished with permission. Due to high levels of industrial outs, wages were also increased. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), African American History Curatorial Collective. The 1950s was characterized as a prosperous and conformist for several reasons. 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. Its major cities were still bombsites, it was almost impossible for many. Some memorable TV spots during this time period were for Alka-Seltzer, Ajax, and Frosted Flakes. Requiring no significant degree of literacy on the part of its audience, Ewen writes, radio gave interested corporations unprecedented access to the inner sanctums of the public mind. The advent of television greatly magnified the potential impact of advertisers messages, exploiting image and symbol far more adeptly than print and radio had been able to do. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AMERICAN CARS OF THE 1950S By Auto Editors Of Consumer Guide - Hardcover **NEW** at the best online prices at eBay! 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. The 1950s was characterized as a prosperous and conformist for several reasons. That is when everything started to come into shape. 5. In the US, existing shops were rapidly extended through the 1890s, mail-order shopping surged, and the new century saw massive multi-storey department stores covering millions of acres of selling space. A few things that were important in the fifties was segregation, fashion and the influence that the fifties had on fashion. A creative revolution transformed advertising from conservative to hip, hokey to ironic. In the case of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a war economy followed, so it was almost 20 years before mass consumption resumed any role in economic life or in the way the economy was conceived. As television grew, Americans worried about its effect on children. "Those who create wants rank amongst our most talented and highly paid citizens. As the economic engine slowed in the 1970s, productivity waned, wages flattened, and Americans faced an energy crisis that reshaped consumer expectations. "America at this moment," said the former British Prime. People would be encouraged to give up thrift and husbandry, to value goods over free time. When it came to the fear of communism during the fifties the majority were in agreement. This improvement in food variety did not extend durable items to the mass of people, however. These changes would persuade consumers to buy the new model and that they needed to update their cars every couple of years and ultimately expanded purchasing growth in the 50s society. In the text book it talks about the specific effects the Great Depression had on all types of people. By 1950s, the aftermath of World War II had faded away. Working in the 1950's, however, was prohibited and deplorable because that meant you were not cooperating with the American system. Here began the "slow unleashing of the acquisitive instincts," write historians Neil McKendrick, John Brewer, and J H Plumb in their influential book on the commercialisation of 18th-Century England, when the pursuit of opulence and display first extended beyond the very rich. The game is to make them the necessities of all classes. Also, new ideas emerged, changing the look of families both then and now. throwaway. Over the course of the 20th Century, capitalism moulded the ordinary person into a consumer. This is reflected in current attitudes. In the 1950s, consumers made television the centerpiece of the home, fueling competition among broadcasters. The notion of human beings as consumers first took shape before World War I, but became commonplace in America in the 1920s. Or, as retail analyst Victor Lebow remarked in 1955: Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate. Unlike most dolls at the time, Barbie was a grown-upa teenage fashion model who could date, drive, and wear fabulous clothes. Coontz also explains that the social society during the 1950s was different than the social society we have today. The television was one of the most popular home appliances in the 1950s. 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.. In accordance with Rule 1950.122.6 of the CRMLA (Cal. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. US consumer credit rose to $7 billion in the 1920s,. In 1949, total TV billing from. 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. At first, consumer goods were more likely to supply basic needs rather than luxury items (Credit: Getty Images). However, by the, Automobiles allowed for travelling and the transporting of goods to be easily accomplished. In researching his excellent history of the rise of PR, Ewen interviewed Bernays himself in 1990, not long before he turned 99. Also Political battles centred around communism and capitalism dominated the decade. 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 US, as a threat to its very existence. 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. 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. Baby boomers came of age and entered colleges in huge numbers. 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. 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. However, automobiles like the Chevrolet, the Rambler and the Hudson Hornet were huge successes when it came to consumerism in the economy. 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 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. After cars became more popular as people saw them. Absolutely Ethical? Bernays saw himself as a propaganda specialist, a public relations counsel, and PR as a more sophisticated craft than advertising as such; it was directed at hidden desires and subconscious urges of which its targets would be unaware. World War II greatly stimulated Americas economy by creating millions of jobs and nearly wiping out unemployment. President Herbert Hoovers 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes welcomed the demonstration "on a grand scale [of] the expansibility of human wants and desires", hailed an "almost insatiable appetite for goods and services", and envisaged "a boundless field before us new wants that make way endlessly for newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied". During this time period, goods became much less expensive and some products were able to sell on a very large scale due to effective marketing campaigns. Want creation advertising is a ten billion dollar industry.. 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.. Television sets mirrored popular furniture styles. The years of the 1950s and 60s was a time where many hardships occurred as global tension was high and as a result many wars occurred as well as movements. Illuminating the bold ideas and voices that make up the MIT Press's expansive catalog. Yet in the literature of the resource problem this is the forbidden question. Instead, it features many happy human faces and all their wonderful stuff! 1950s For a while there were about 10-year cycles of moral panics. In 1960, more than 70 percent of families still looked much like the family of the 1950s, with a man who brought in the family 's sole income, children and a stay-at-home wife and mother. 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. The prospect of ever-extendable consumer desire, characterised as "progress", promised a new way forward for modern manufacture, a means to perpetuate economic growth. Kerryn Higgs is an Australian writer and historian. To Galbraith, who had just published "The Affluent Society", the wastefulness he observed seemed foolhardy, but he was pessimistic about curtailment. Release from the perils of famine and premature starvation was in place for most people in the industrialised world soon after WWI ended. 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. Consumers and the economy immediately saw an upsurge in new consumer products. Magazines in mid-century became vehicles for dissemination of consumerist attitudes and the promotion of group and professional . "Goods are plentiful. The 1950s Family. 8 Silk Pillowcases for Your Best Beauty Sleep. In the United States in particular, economic growth had succeeded in providing basic security to the great majority of an entire population. These products included washing machines, dishwashers, frozen foods, television, microwave ovens, lawn mowers and automobiles. 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". I Love Lucy, The Donna Reed Show, The Kramdens, The Honeymooners. The great corporation which is in danger of having its profits taxed away or its sales fall off or its freedom impeded by legislative action must have recourse to the public to combat successfully these menaces.. In 1955, he opened KCOR-TV, expanding his broadcasting business and community-centered media vision to television. Electricity sparked a whole new wave of consumer product possibilities (Credit: Getty Images). A handpicked selection of stories fromBBC Future,Culture,Worklife, andTravel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. During the 1950s, a sense of uniformity pervaded American society. 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. See how consumerism flourished through advertising, higher. Shop Lululemon We Made Too Much For Up to 50% Off. She bases her information on facts and historical evidence. 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. 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 steady-state economy capable of meeting the basic needs of all, foreshadowed by philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill as the stationary state, seemed well within reach and, in Mills words, likely to be an improvement on the trampling, crushing, elbowing and treading on each others heels the disagreeable symptoms of one of the phases of industrial progress. It would be feasible to reduce hours of work further and release workers for the spiritual and pleasurable activities of free time with families and communities, and creative or educational pursuits. 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. President Herbert Hoovers 1929 Committee on Recent Economic Changes welcomed the demonstration on a grand scale [of] the expansibility of human wants and desires, hailed an almost insatiable appetite for goods and services, and envisaged a boundless field before us new wants that make way endlessly for newer wants, as fast as they are satisfied. In this paradigm, people are encouraged to board an escalator of desires (a stairway to heaven, perhaps) and progressively ascend to what were once the luxuries of the affluent. The 1920s bonanza collapsed suddenly and catastrophically. Consumerism and innovations had a large role throughout the time periods. 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. From 'Make do and Mend' to 'Your Country Needs You to Spend': Constructing the Consumer in Late-Modernity Alison Hulme 3. The Civil Rights movement was gaining speed and many became involved in political activism. One of the most popular products in the 1950s was the TV. 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. The Vietnam War was widely seen as a controversial conflict and opened insight to Australians as to what was actually happening through music and television which in turn swayed the public opinion of Australias involvement with the war. With increasing variety in clothes, food and household items, shopping became an important cultural activity in the 18th century. The fifties was a period of civil rights groups, feminism, and change. 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. 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. There are two simple reasons why. During the Consumer Era, production boomed and consumerism shaped the American marketplace, which spread from cities to suburbs. 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 products have been the luxuries of the upper classes. Advertising. 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. Sandwiched between the war-ravaged 1940s and the explosive 1960s, the 1950s was a time of great growth and prosperity in many aspects. If it continues its geometric course, will it not one day have to be restrained? Kerryn Higgs is an Australian writer and historian. In the 1920s, the target consumer market to be nourished lay at home in the industrialized world. Television and radio super-charged advertising, directly into people's homes (Credit: Getty Images). The advent of television greatly magnified the potential impact of advertisers messages, exploiting image and symbol far more adeptly than print and radio had been able to do. he asks. 1. As Bernays noted: Many of mans thoughts and actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which [he] has been obliged to suppress. So, the stereotypical nuclear family of the 1950s consisted of an economically stable family made up of a father, mother, and two or three children. Charles Kettering, general director of General Motors Research Laboratories, equated such perpetual change with progress. After WWI, America became one of the worlds most formidable superpowers. Although the shorter workweek appealed to Kelloggs workers, the company, after reverting to longer hours during WWII, was reluctant to renew the six-hour shift in 1945. World War II was ending, and men were returning unemployed. Economy was booming again and people had . 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. The U.S. was recovering from World War II and GIs were coming home. 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. The nonsettler 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. While some of them would emerge as critics of consumerism and the unsustainable use of natural resources, overall the first generation raised in post-war prosperity helped entrench planned obsolescence as an engine of the American . : Irony, Subversion and Prescience in 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 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. Nationwide, manufacturers efforts to expand consumption coincided civil rights activists goal to desegregate business. This first wave of consumerism was short-lived. "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. After the stock market crashes in 1929, people were left jobless and hungry. 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. The labour struggles of the 19th Century had, without jeopardising 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. Teenagers as a consumer group - "SELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" This first wave of consumerism was short-lived. Entertainment. 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. After the tumult of the 1930s and 1940swith their sustained economic depression (1929-41) and world war (1939-45)the 1950s did seem quiet. In the United States, existing shops were rapidly extended through the 1890s, mail-order shopping surged, and the new century saw massive multistory department stores covering millions of acres of selling space. Usually that new thing in culture is associated with young people and perceived threats to its cultural identity. 1950s American culture was characterized by a boom in consumerism, which bolstered the economy and left cultural impacts as well. Here began the slow unleashing of the acquisitive instincts, write historians Neil McKendrick, John Brewer, and J.H. Consumption is now frequently seen as our principal role in the world. She begins her argument by stating some reasons why the nostalgia for the 1950s exists. 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. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. Its a study of a love affair as much as anything else.". Each decade had its own unique style of advertising, but one period of time really stands in stark contrast to what we're accustomed to today. The American home was at the center of post-war stability. 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. Consumerism is the concept depicting the belief that happiness and well-being depends to a significant degree of personal consumption. Motor car registration rose from eight million in 1920 to more than 28 million by 1929. Basically, it means that purchasing certain material goods is likely to increase the level of satisfaction with life. Significantly, it was individual desire that was democratised, rather than wealth or political and economic power. The 1950s was an important year for fashion and for African Americans. Beat movement, also called Beat Generation, American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s and centred in the bohemian artist communities of San Francisco's North Beach, Los Angeles' Venice West, and New York City's Greenwich Village. After World War II, African Americans challenged decades of racial segregation by demanding recognition by advertisers and equal access to goods and services. This weathervane used the iconic image of Colonel Sanders as the companys unifying brand. Galbraith was alert to the way that rapidly expanding consumption patterns were multiplied by a rapidly expanding population. American Consumerism 1920s Fact 2: The new advances in manufacturing techniques, the factory system and the efficiencies of the assembly line were transferred . 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 . 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. 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. 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