One of the factors that fueled the prosperity of the '50s was the increase in consumer spending. The adults of the '50s had grown up in conditions of economic deprivation, first due to the general poverty of the Great Depression and then due to the rationing of consumer goods during World War II.
The 1920s in the United States, called “roaring” because of the exuberant, freewheeling popular culture of the decade. The Roaring Twenties was a time when many people defied Prohibition, indulged in new styles of dancing and dressing, and rejected many traditional moral standards. (See flappers and Jazz Age.)
The Rise of American Consumerism. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and because of the lack of consumer goods during the war, Americans were eager to spend. During the same years, young couples were marrying and having children at unprecedented rates. New and expanded federal programs, including the G.I.
Positive Consumerism Effects:
- More industrial production.
- A higher growth rate economy.
- More goods and services available.
- More advertising since goods manufactured have to be sold.
- Increased production will result in more employment opportunities.
- A variety of goods and services to choose from.
While there is not any official regulation, President Kennedy introduced four of the five major consumer rights: safety, information, choice, voice and redress.
The Industrial Revolution also played a major role in the spread of consumerism. It first began in the 1700s in England and soon spread to many other countries in Europe and North America.
Consumer Demand Spurs Economic Growth. Rising incomes, easy credit, and aggressive marketing helped create a culture of consumption in the 1950s.
Consumerism has a good and bad side. Although consumerism drives economic growth and boosts innovation, it comes with a fair share of problems ranging from environmental and moral degradation to higher debt levels and mental health problems.
List of largest consumer markets
| Country | HFCE (millions of USD, nominal) | % of GDP |
|---|
| United States | 13,321,407 | 68% |
| European Union | 9,613,986 | 56% |
| China | 4,697,723 | 43% |
| Japan | 2,756,598 | 56% |
Consumerism is the theory that states people consuming goods and services in large quantities will be better off. Some economists believe that consumer spending leads to an increase in production and economic growth.
Benefits of consumerism
Consumerism drives economic growth. When people spend more on goods/services produced in a never-ending cycle, the economy grows. There is increased production and employment which leads to more consumption. The living standards of people are also bound to improve because of consumerism.Many of the defining features of modern American culture emerged during the 1920s. The record chart, the book club, the radio, the talking picture, and spectator sports all became popular forms of mass entertainment.
Advocates of consumerism point to how consumer spending can drive an economy forward and lead to an increased production of goods and services. As a result of increased consumption spending, a rise in GDP growth or Gross Domestic Product can occur.
Benefits of consumerism
Consumerism drives economic growth. When people spend more on goods/services produced in a never-ending cycle, the economy grows. There is increased production and employment which leads to more consumption. The living standards of people are also bound to improve because of consumerism.One country that has a large consumer culture is the United States of America. Consumer culture has provided affluent societies with peaceful alternatives to tribalism and class war, it has fueled extraordinary economic growth.
The Rise of American Consumerism. At the end of World War II, American soldiers returned home to a country quite different from the one they had left four years earlier. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and because of the lack of consumer goods during the war, Americans were eager to spend.
The prosperity of the 1920s led to new patterns of consumption, or purchasing consumer goods like radios, cars, vacuums, beauty products or clothing. The expansion of credit in the 1920s allowed for the sale of more consumer goods and put automobiles within reach of average Americans.
During the American Gilded Age, which offered unprecedented access to consumer goods, what one owned or had the ability to buy became an important way to assert one's identity. Though there was also vast income disparity, most Americans experienced an increase in overall quality of life.
Consumption in the 1920s
The prosperity of the 1920s led to new patterns of consumption, or purchasing consumer goods like radios, cars, vacuums, beauty products or clothing. The expansion of credit in the 1920s allowed for the sale of more consumer goods and put automobiles within reach of average Americans.The 1950s were a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement in the United States. For example, the nascent civil rights movement and the crusade against communism at home and abroad exposed the underlying divisions in American society.
Television programming has had a huge impact on American and world culture. Many critics have dubbed the 1950s as the Golden Age of Television. TV sets were expensive and so the audience was generally affluent.
In the U.S., far-reaching advertising trends were established in the cultural and economic environment of the 1950s. Traditional media such as radio, newspapers and magazines remained vital ad conduits during the early years of the decade, but TV quickly became a cornerstone of many advertisers' national media plans.
Post World War II
The 1944 GI Bill of Rights helped cause the boom. It gave loans to returning veterans for education and training. It provided federal loan guarantees so they could buy homes, farms, and businesses. It created a fund to pay veterans if they were unemployed.The prosperity of the 1920s led to new patterns of consumption, or purchasing consumer goods like radios, cars, vacuums, beauty products or clothing. With so many new products and so many Americans eager to purchase them, advertising became a central institution in this new consumer economy.
Cars and TVs
Television and automobile sales skyrocketed in the 1950s. With the massive growth in suburban populations, automobiles were needed more than ever, and were within reach for many first-time buyers. Families of all income brackets were buying televisions at a rate of five million a year.The Rise of American Consumerism
- More, Newer, Better. After World War II, consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire.
- Pragmatic Spending. Americans invested in items based around home and family life.
- Cars and TVs. Television and automobile sales skyrocketed in the 1950s.
- "The Good Life"
- Selling in Order to Buy.
While the 1950s began to resemble a period appropriately termed an "Age of Affluence" (except for the unemployment), the 1960s look even better. From early 1961 into 1966 there have been no recessions, the longest continuous period of prosperity in our history.
