Download Consumer Culture in 1950s America: Factors, Implications, and Social Impact - Prof. Christ and more Study notes World History in PDF only on Docsity! Adelina Lang History 202 Christopher Bates Week of May 9 “Swords into Frisbees” —the Rise of Consumer Culture in the 1950s Questions: 1. What factors led to the rise of America’s consumer culture? 2. What are the implications of this development? Outline: I. Ray A. Kroc and Fast Food Nation McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain in the world. II. What is a consumer culture? A. One in which people believes that purchasing goods can create happiness and convey status. 1. Things you buy define you/say something about you III. What encouraged the development of America’s consumer culture? A. Cold War 1. People want to spend in order to forget their worries 2. It encouraged spending habits (People were scared => Shopping) B. Transportation Revolution 1. Cars: 60 million sold in the 1950s 2. Interstate Highway System (1956) 3. Cars serve as a luxury good themselves, and as a means of encouraging the purchase of other Luxury goods (at drive-in restaurants, for example) a. Many Americans had cars before WWII. After WWII, Everyone felt like having a car was a necessity b. Consumer goods facilitate other consumer goods. Cars can take you everywhere C. Growth of the Middle Class 1. The GI Bill lets people buy houses, get an education a. Bonus => got money 25 years later=Bad idea b. New veterans were given the opportunity previous veterans didn’t have 2. Postwar Affluence (U.S. had 50% of the world’s wealth) creates many good- paying jobs a. US has a lot of money and everyone's standard living rose 3. Women stay in the workplace, and the two-income family becomes the norm Adelina Lang History 202 Christopher Bates Week of May 9 a. Many women went to work because of Rosy the Riveter b. The middle class increased; disposable income was formed 4. In 1950, 9% of Americans were middle class; by 1960 it was 30%. Today it’s 70%. D. Baby Boom 1. Creates a large marke for goods that advertisers are newly eager to exploit 2. Men would come back from war and make up for being lonely 3. Parents were wealthy; Kids were wealthy. Parents felt guilty because they weren't home to be with the child, so they gave their kids big allowances E. The Rise of Television 1. In 1946, there were 17,000 television sets in the nation. By 1949, Americans purchased 250,000 sets every month. By 1953, two-thirds of American homes had at least one TV. 2. Targeted Children 3. Influence the way people spend their money during WWII IV. Helping People Spend Their Money A. Shopping Malls 1. First developed in the 1920s, but as of 1950 the nation still had only 12 of them. Revolutionized in the 1950s, as typified by South dale; by 1960, the number had grown to more than 5,000. 2. Convince people to spend more money in aggressive ways 3. A real mall consisted of a Sears (Anchor stores), food courts and air conditioning 4. First mall was in Minnesota B. Emphasis on Speed and Convenience 1. Fast Food Nation 2. Other consumer goods: Minute Rice (1950), TV dinners (1954), disposable diapers (1956), panty hose (1959), etc. C. First Credit Cards (Visa in 1958) => Credit cards are EVIL! D. Changes in Advertising 1. New Messages a. You need by better things: Cars=Defines you 2. Advertising to teens and children=> 1950s in appropriate to advertise to kids but since every child was wealthy they began to make advertising a. Rise of the “fad”: Hula hoop, Yo-Yo, Frisbees, etc. i. fads became a port of children's ways of life
