Consumer Society In The 1920s Summary

As a social phenomenon, consumption exists in any era and society. In today's world, it has become the center of society. This article will focus on American society in the 1920s , which is also the earliest consumer society in American history, and explore the performance, causes and impact of this "consumer society".

Jean Baudrillard regarded consumer society as a social formation based on a consumption-led cultural system. In his view, objects are regarded as symbols, and symbols distinguish people from each other and symbolize the social status of people who own objects. Daniel Bell regarded consumer society as a social form dominated by consumerism-led lifestyles that are keen on consuming luxury goods. As he said in Cultural Contradiction

The excessive expansion of advanced consumption also brings various negative impacts to the American economy. Advanced consumption means that in such a society surrounded by abundant materials and goods, people enjoy those goods that they cannot afford to pay for in advance by means of credit consumption. This habit, over time, can transform what was once a luxury into a necessity. The unbalance between supply and demand in the market is concealed under the false prosperous demand. Once the financial market is in great turmoil, the vulnerability of the American economy will be exposed undoubtedly, and the economic recession will soon appear. In 1920, the total amount of consumer credit issued across the United States was about $19 million. By 1924, it had ballooned to nearly $2 billion. In 1929, it increased to $3.5 billion. Before the Great Depression hit, the cumulative amount of consumer credit-related notes maturing reached $6 billion.Throughout the 1920s, 15 percent of consumer goods were paid for by consumer credit. When off-budget circumstances arise, consumers are vulnerable to bankruptcy. In addition, in the worship of consumption, people tend to lose rationality in the pursuit of wealth and interests. Among them, real estate investment is the most representative. A New York lawyer is said to have bought land in Florida for $240,000 in 1913-1915. The value of the land increased more than 16-fold in just a decade, to $4 million in 1925 . Behind such abnormal price soaring was the deviation from the normal demand. With the bursting of the real estate credit bubble, a number of banks went bankrupt and became heavily indebted, resulting in a large number of bad loans and financial turmoil, which led to the 1929 financial crisis. The underlying problems of the boom eventually bubbled out of the crisis and turned into a severe depression. Under the Great Depression, the