consumer culture
{{Short description|Lifestyle hyper-focused on buying material goods}}
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File:Mall of America Floors & Escalators.jpg have had a huge impact on consumer culture. Shown in the picture is the Mall of America, one of the largest malls in the US.]]
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Consumer culture describes a lifestyle hyper-focused on spending money to buy material or goods.
Consumer culture became prominent in the United States during the rapid economic growth of the Roaring Twenties following the end of World War I.{{Cite news |last=Higgs |first=Kerryn |title=How the world embraced consumerism |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210120-how-the-world-became-consumerist |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en |date=January 20, 2021}}
Industrial Revolution
{{Main|Industrial Revolution}}
File:Factory workers at Armstrongs c.1940s (archive ref DDPD-2-2-6) (30261046665).jpg
Before the Industrial Revolution, the home was a place where men and women produced, consumed, and worked.{{Cite book|title=Daily Life In The Industrial United States, 1870-1900|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeindustr00husb|url-access=limited|last1=Husband|first1=Julie|last2=O'Loughlin|first2=Jim|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2004|isbn=0-313-32302-X|location=Westport, CT|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeindustr00husb/page/n163 151]–177|via=Hard Text}} The men were highly valued workers, such as barbers, butchers, farmers, and lumbermen who brought income into the house. The wives of these men completed various tasks to save money which included, churning butter, fixing clothes, and tending the garden. This system created an equal value for all of the jobs and tasks in a community. Once the Industrial Revolution began, there was no such thing as equal and high valued work in a mass production industry. The only value these workers had were the wage they made. That meant the wives lost their value at home and had to start working for a living. This new system created the thought of everyone being replaceable.{{Cite book |last1=Keene |first1=Jennifer |title=Visions of America:A History of the United States |last2=Cornell |first2=Saul |last3=O'Donnell |first3=Edward |publisher=Person |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-13-376776-6 |location=Boston |via=Hard Text}}
Types of culture
Social scientists Arthur Berger, Aaron Wildavsky, and Mary Douglas have suggested that there are four political and consumer cultures possible in a democratic society: hierarchical/elitist, individualist, egalitarian, and fatalist.{{Cite book|title=Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture|last=Berger|first=Arthur|publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|year=2004|isbn=0-7425-2724-7|location=Lanham, MD|pages=[https://archive.org/details/adsfadsconsumerc0000berg/page/25 25–43]|via=Hard Text|url=https://archive.org/details/adsfadsconsumerc0000berg/page/25}}
- Hierarchical/Elitist: Someone with the belief that a system or society should be ruled, dominated, or otherwise controlled by a group of individuals determined to be of higher standing than others.
- Individualist: Someone who puts the needs of the individual before the needs of others.
- Egalitarian: Someone that believes that peoples' needs and rights should be equal, fair, and cared for.
- Fatalist: Someone with the belief that future events are inevitable, and thus there is little to no point in attempting to alter them.
See also
- {{annotated link|Consumerism}}
- {{annotated link|Moonlight clan}}
- {{annotated link|Market economy}}
- {{annotated link|Mass-market theory}}
- {{annotated link|Hyperconsumerism}}
- {{annotated link|Conspicuous consumption}}
- {{annotated link|Consumer choice}}
- {{annotated link|Consumer culture theory}}
- {{annotated link|Consumer protection}}
- {{annotated link|Hype culture}}