Mass-Consumptive Society and the Middle Class in Postwar America
by Kazuaki MATSUO
December 19th, 2007
1. ‘Populuxe’: Postwar America and its middle class.
In this present world, all we are consumers in mass-consumptive society. As its prototype, we can find postwar America and its middle class people. “Middle Class” are those who are in the middle-income bracket, can afford a middle-class lifestyle, had emerged until 1950s. Their lifestyle is called or characterized as ‘Populuxe’ as a mixed word of ‘Popular’ and ‘Deluxe (Luxurious).’ It was a longed and yearning lifestyle or model of many countries all over the world. Through viewing these age, people and society, I will try to find how they were made up, how style they were, and what the limit of them was, as a problem of applicable to present society.
2. Birth of Consumers and the promise of being rich.
In historical context, Industrialization by 1920s had greatly changed American sense of value of production / consumption. Consumption came to be considered not as vice but as virtue, or exhibition of affluence. In 1920s, people could enjoy a life of affluence. Since 1929, however the Great Depression and the World War II occurred and oppressed people's lives as rich consumers. In this time, wartime government promised and postponed the fruition of postwar abundant life such as ‘The Freedom from want’ of ‘The Four Freedoms’ by F. D. Roosevelt.
3. Suburbs, the place where the middle class reside.
Postwar America, there were some problems. They feared that the depression came back. Besides, a number of veterans will come back and there was baby boom in the wartime, so that the problem of houses or the economy of population emerged. The answers to those problems were the GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen's Readjustment Act) and the rising suburbs. The GI Bill consisted of three deals: Unemployment pay while looking for a job and against the economic problem, allowance for further education or training giving them moratorium, programs of loans to purchase homes or farms to start a business or to give them residence.
As such residences, suburban area and its towns were rising in 1950s. The typical one is Levittown, called ‘an ideal American suburb.’
The houses in Levittown were prefab-based, ‘instant’ buildings. Its residents were the middle class (white) and those who were GIs. They formed the nuclear families and lived the suburban consumptive way of lives. Such lifestyles acted for national integration in the background of the Cold War: All consumers are all equally Americans.
4. The Limits.
As the limit of those societies, we can pick up first the problem of racial minority. An implicit (or sometimes explicit) agreement about the racial segregation in early times of Levittown shut the yellow people and the black people out. The community was ‘completely white.’ Second, the people were in conformity and criticized their attitudes as “Lonely Crowd” by D. Riesman, the Hippies style in the following 1960s. There also remains the wealth gap between the city and suburb, or between the lower class and upper-or-middle classes. The problem of being poverty in the centered city was neglected. Such limits and problems were waited for 1960's society movements to be solved.
The Summary of the Questions and Answers of MATSUO’s Presentation
by FUJIMURA Yasuhiro
Q: Could you tell me specific movements in 1960's?
A: Most typical one is the Civil Movement by M. L. King or Malcolm X.
Q: And any other examples?
A: In those days, consciousness about the environment was becoming great. The anxiety about cars is very good example. One book in those days said that cars are dangerous for the environment.
Q: Why did you pick up Levittown as an example of American suburb?
A: It is because Levittown, which is near New York, is regarded as a typical type of American suburb. Many books pick up this town.
Q: Why is the 1950’s society in America stressed as consumptive society? I think consumptive society have already started before that.
A: Because 1950’s consumptive society is the most important for our society or present society.
Q: I think one can stand on two positions: one is that consumptive society can solve the poverty and cultural differences, and the other is that consumptive society is built on segregations and poverty. Which is your position?
A: I want to agree with the latter.
Q: But I think it is strange. You showed us “limits.” It means those problems can be solved. So you have already taken your position.
Q: You said that the government made use of consumptive society to integrate people. But I can’t understand that completely, so please tell me.
A: The U.S tried to confirm that “people are one unit.” It didn’t want to separate people by class, by the way of life, or income.
Q: So was there any political campaign, or law or political enforcement?
A: National Housing Administration is good example. It was established to support people who want to purchase a house.
(1)At first, you should have defined what the "middle class" is. Is it defined by salary, by social status or by style of living? Or is this word used by social meaning or by political meaning? You should have showed us such point. And I was surprised that your presentation finished too suddenly. It might be because you didn't express your conclusion clearly.
But certainly, your topic is interesting. In my opinion, this topic has something to do with Japanese society. Also in Japan, we have lived in a consumptive society, and once many people thought "we belong to the middle class." To research the similarity or difference between Japan and America also must be interesting.
by Yasuhiro FUJIMURA
(2)His English was difficult to understand for me because of his accent and sentence. As for his theme, because the purpose and conclusion were not clear, I couldn't get his points.
by Syouji TSUMURA