Cold War and Consumerists Mass Culture - Essay Example

?You’re s History and Political Science In what ways did consumerist mass culture unite with cold war politics and postwar economic policy to foster conformity in the postwar era? How were Americans supposed to think and act? The economic and social forces following the World War Two in America were marked by economic contingency foreclosure through a process of calculation and bureaucratic planning. The development was an economical symbol as well a culture goods aligned to capitalism fundamental objectives. However, the alignment required capital agencies to direct their attention towards the prevailing gender, kinship and familial relations. This unification ensured the transformation of the citizens into consumers. The success of the economy of America in the postwar era was accompanied by certain uneasiness where industry ideals and ideas were engaged in a battle that was unremitting against totalitarianism. The position taken by the United States of bridging its socialism so as to become a police state ignored the economy at that time which was oligopoly dominated and not dominated by a free market system based on classical capitalist theory (Chafe 89). The period between 1930 and 1960 was a consolidation time crisis. The constraints resulting from World War Two and Great Depression led to a frustrated consumerism situation even more than the capitalist system rejection. The new consumerism had led most Americans and policy makers to believe that the under consumption situation in the country was the main cause of the slump. The government policy after the war had encouraged mass purchasing power instead of coming up with measures to equalize the wealth distribution. Consumer society had become a positive communism answer during the cold war. Despite the relations between freedom and consumption in these years, consumerism of the post war era was domesticated rather than hedonistic. It focused more on the nuclear family and suburban homes (Chafe 107). The period between 1960 and 1980 witnessed a number of challenges and changes making the consumer society stronger than ever. Among the challenges included the counterculture challenge on consumerism premises. The specter scarcity brought into question the cornucopia performance upon which the consumer society depended on. The consequent of this challenge was that consumption ended up being more ubiquitous. The socially and individualistic fragmenting consumerism existing today is believed to be rooted on the critique of consumerism that took place in 1960’s. The countercultural figures critiqued idealized and conformity indicates that most Americans preferred to achieve the authenticity through consumption (Breines and Breines 78). Consumerism began to modify its mass production practices in favor of segmented and flexible production in the demographically distinct markets. Consumerism has since then become adoptable to the hip and green. A good example of this is the energy situation crisis in 1970’s when politicians considered the shortage as being as a result of over production. This was rebuked as being naysayers. Consumerist trends toward fragmentation and individualistic consumptions have accelerated in the recent years leading to market triumphant. The resulting radical faith in the market virtues led to politicians to put moral gloss on the market culture unfettered growth in the 1980s. Consumerism also helped in the integration of the diversity of the inhabitants youth mass culture and cynical marketers through the equal division of multicultural segmented demographic units. This led to the shift from a spirited and integrative public popular culture to an increasingly solipsistic and privatized commercial culture in the early twentieth century (Bloom and Breines 142). Consumerist during this era adopted an ideological medal that adopted an unquestioning approach towards the production uses. This resulted to an increase in self-consciousness in the manipulation of social insecurity. The increased self-conscious steered traditional Americans values of self sufficiency and thrift towards passive excessiveness. Such efforts together with the increasing central oligopoly fostered an ostensible vision of happy consumerist conformity. This was characteristic of definitive socio-sexual roles, an aversion to social difference or critic and specific family stereotypes. The successes and popularity associated with consumerist after the war period in uniting the postwar economy and cold war politics were achieved at great cost. It adopted the private thrills abrogating public life. By doing so, the consumer society allowed social conscience limited space and truly demonstrated democratic politics. Consumerism replaced civil society rather than shoring it up through having individual acquisition and goods usage become predominant in the Americans way of life (Bloom and Breines 94). Other measures included making national and new advertised and branded products more affordable and available. Such products alleviated the material needs making them ease and comfortable and gave rise to new sensations of speed and power. The mass culture contributed to social and political changes and at the same time blurred class and ethic divisions. This situation led the Americans to believe that their future of freedom and prosperity was solely dependent on the realm of consumption continuing expansion. Shopping had since then become American’s primary entertainment form and a monument to consumption. A good example is how the gargantuan Mall of America which is 4.2 million foot has become a tourist’s haven from all over the world. What had been viewed by the American’s as being seductive in the 1900’s characterized by pleasure and cornucopia for masses was now thought as becoming obscene by most of the American’s citizens. They consider the consumerist ways as being a cultural stimulant which later became a dangerous narcotic (Bloom and Breines 62). After the war era, America emerged as the most powerful country in the word. The era had helped the nation strengthen its ability in goods production capitalizing on other Europe economies that had been ruined and were hungry for its products. Consumerist gave rise to some plans such as Marshall Plan which offered aid to other European economies in exchange for capitalism commitment. The United States helped Europe recover, and in turn European countries became the biggest consumers, or users, of U.S. goods. Through helping other economies, the United States economy was boomed allowing its citizens to have enough money for production of goods beyond their bare necessities. The Americans were encouraged to purchase a variety of products in record numbers resulting to a situation where non necessary services and goods were the ones driving the economy (Raskin 132). Why didn’t the following movements, Civil rights, women’s rights, and peace movements, accept this formula of conformity which was then called the national consensus? The relative neglect of the minorities and women led to the underestimation of the grassroots importance of consumer activism. Cost of living boycotts, meat protests and commodity prices campaigns common in America at some point were integral in the development of consumer society as they represented expansion demands of the consumerism benefits beyond the elite of middle classes. An important woman’s political organization in consumerism is the National Consumers League that pioneered the labor rights and ethical consumption crusade. The marketers were out to co-opt the movements on civil rights and participated fully in ensuring that the consumer society remained the main ingredient in the social justice crusade. The period after the war had created stress in the American social life. Solders returned home eager to buy homes, settle down, start families and get regular jobs. The national enthusiasm resulted in pressure as people were conforming to pressure of behavior and dress. This was a counter culture to what was characteristic of the American culture. Not every one accepted this revolution leading to some movements such as the peace movement, the civil rights and the women rights to rise against the conformity formula. The main concern of the movements was the new understating and cultural rebel of the business culture and consumption that was heading towards selling the young population by the leaders appreciating the demographic bonanza (Raskin 127). The movements believed that the prevailing counterculture was serving as a corporate revolutionary in relation to the new business ideology which was a living embodiment of the reflection of citizens’ attitudes. Through the hostility to come up with tastes, the counter culture appeared to be preparing the young to oppose all they had patronized earlier and to consider new cycles without the earlier eras suspicion. The simultaneous craving for suspicion and authenticity of tradition seemed to appreciate counterculture as an ideal tool for wide and rapid changes in the consuming habits of Americans. The movements were out to oppose the development of a hip consumerism that would be driven by disgust with the majority of the society. When Capitalism stared dominating in the sixties, men changed from being parents to be executives. They forget their human spirits and become dominated by the entrepreneurial spirit and the consuming spirit. The old business leaders looked at the youth culture as their own struggle reflection against a new dynamic affirmation consuming order and a past stifling bureaucracy. Cultural revolution to them symbolized the counterculture affirmation of the changing economic universe. The movements were also concerned with the women being involved in many labor consumer societies which they were not paid. Such societies included budgeting, older items refashioning and shopping. The other affected group was the African-Americans who were excluded from most of the benefits that had emerged from the mass culture. So many privileges had been given to the dominating culture as well as the Latino and Asian immigrants. The multi-price system and customer base has increased the racial discrimination (Raskin 89). In what ways did they seek to challenge this formula and change U.S. society? How would you assess their influence upon U.S. society and culture by 1968, the year of their peak visibility, in changing this formula? The consumer society received massive criticism not just from the movements. The society in its quest to make America a better trading environment had dismissed most of the cultures ethics. The system was arrogant towards the final consumer receiving many criticisms. The movements called for self-provisioning and the citizens to live in simple ways making use of the basic commodities in the markets. Such life style should be on voluntary and out of conscious but not a forced decision. Movements such as the consumer union were out to help consumers assume their earlier position of being a greater force against the advertisers and business powers. Most of the consumer rights groups have had their focus and strategies mainly on product prices and quality. This has worked to reinforce both the materialism and individualism of America consumption. Desirable traditions and politicized individualism are now innumerable in website. A good example of the site is the starbucked.com which highlight at vast extends the indignation of the one loyal customer. The movements democratized the powers of consumers’ demands in their corporate responsibility that is often dissipated by narrow cast diatribes. A stratum created during this period had young, white and middle class as its adherents adopted a type of lifestyle which embraced individuals’ freedom and did away with ethics of repressive sexual more, capitalism and conformity. The movements also ensured that new laws were enacted to protect the customers be it the children, women ort the African Americans (Echols 134). The consumer society led to most of the cities and shopping centers in America develop into meccas due to the counterculture. Some youths left their urban areas to move to rural communes where they loosely modeled on communities that were utopian but very few of these communes offered self sustaining. The counter culture also influenced the purchasing culture of Americans from the traditional possessive consumers to frequent buyers. This affected even the types of products most Americans bought. Traditionally the economy of America was controlled by the trade of the basic commodities but all this changed with the coming of the consumer society and conformity. Certain market sectors rapidly grew like the textile and entertainment sectors. This market system was not the best that suites the market situation of the United States as it had more disadvantages that advantages to the basic consumer (Echols 90). Work cited Bloom, Alexander & Breines, Wini. Taking it to the Streets: A Sixties Reader .New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print Chafe, William. A History of Our Times: Reading on Postwar. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print Echols, Alice. Scars of Sweet paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2000. Print Raskin, Jonah. For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman. California: University of California Press, 1998. Print Read More