Consumerism In The 1920's

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Consumerism is currently described as the economic theory that a large, continuous, consumption of products is socially and economically desirable for the American people. Although this trend may have been adamant in the 1950’s and so on, it began within the 1920’s, where corporate profits and industrial wages began to rise significantly. The introduction of Fordism, where workers were given larger wages allowing for them to buy their company's own products, also introduced an new idea of business procedures. Advertisements began to rely on emotional proposals, on a product, in order to persuade the populace's mind, rather than the actual information. Additionally, as Hollywood stars began to become more and more know, the outfits, makeup, and trends they wore or depicted influenced the way the American people wanted to look. Of course, the Great Depression would have slowed the idea of consumerism, however, as World War II became one of the main economic boosts for America, consumerism began once more. Additionally, the influence from Richard Nixon’s decision to “make a stand for American values in the setting a suburban kitchen” created a spark of consumerism …show more content…
The uprise in car ownership allowed for Americans to choose a life on the “open road”, as highways began to develop, inevitably altering America’s landscape for good. However, the other significant attribution to the idea of an “American dream”, was the influence of an excessive consumption of goods. By this I mean that Americans were strongly influenced to be house owners, within the middle-class, because advertisements and higher-class people proposed that the one way to be free was to spend, spend, and spend. The idea was that, if you owned a house, you had the “physical embodiment of hopes for a better

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