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Negative Effects Of Consumerism In The 1920s

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During the 1920s, the United States was going through a great change. The United States shifted from a producer orientated society into a consumerist society. Prior to the 19th century most producers only produced what was needed in quantities. Usually that meant what their village or farm could use. In the early 20th century, the US was in a time of rapid technology and communication advancements. Advances such as interchangeable parts, radio, and refrigerators helped transform America into a consumerist society. The inventions laid the foundation for mass production. Mass production along with unskilled workers allowed for millions of products to be made very quickly and cheaply. American were now able to buy products they were never able to before. Automobiles …show more content…

“In the 1920s, partly as a result of techniques pioneered by wartime propaganda, advertising came of age” (Brinkley 551). This helped create the market for “unnecessary” products in the lives of Americans. Mass consumerism in many ways was positive for developing America. It allowed for a more comfortable living style as it made every day task easier. It also allowed for a higher growth rate for the economy. Overall, the negative effect outweighed the positive effects. In many ways people became power hungry, they craved goods as well as a job that would provide enough disposable income to fit their needs. In many ways this left Americans with a sad empty feeling when they did not get the things they desired. Due to this, spiritual feelings were put to the side in search of physical desires. This desire for material possessions increased the crime rate. All of these factors also increased the debt of

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Prices went sky-high, and high inflation only worsened the situation for many of the laborers. The first to blame was the Bank of the United States, which had stopped exchanging precious metals for banknotes. When it began to call its loans, people were unable to pay, leading to a devastating effect on the economy. The

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1. In what ways did the increasing popularity of the automobile contribute to economic growth and social change in the United States during the 1920s? In the 1920’s the popularity of automobile increased the growth of economy when Henry Ford decided to sell his vehicles for a lower price, allowing more people to be able to buy cars.

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The Good & the Bad of the 1920s “It was in the 1920s, when nobody had time to reflect, that I saw a still-life painting with a flower that was perfectly exquisite, but so small you really could not appreciate it” (Georgia O’Keeffe). The 1920’s was a decade that was associated with outrageousness. Where America changed as they recovered from World War I, they had to come up with new ways of thinking and behaving. The 1920’s were full of ups and downs.

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The 1920s, known as the Roaring Twenties, was a time of economic distinction for the United States. An average of 95% of the population had jobs, giving them the freedom to own homes and cars with enough money leftover to enjoy a ballgame or a movie. Factories were in full swing, using the assembly line to produce goods at an all time high for a price lower than ever. However, the economic boom came to a halt. Factories began producing more than people were buying, creating an overproduction of goods.

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1 - Consumerism developed in America during the early twentieth century in large part due to the boom in industry created by Europe 's inability to create goods after World War I. Combined this with American inventions such as Henry Ford’s assembly line and Americans had money to spend (Schultz, 2013). With the advent of an electrical distribution system, Americans had electricity in their homes for the first time, which led to the desire for all types of electrical appliances to make life easier. All these new products meant that companies had to get the word out about their products which ignited the advertising industry, which led to even more consumerism. Mix into this recipe, the growing credit industry, and you had consumerism like

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The 1920s were a decade of increased general wealth and buying power. The status quo changed and new ideas spread. Prohibition was in place, but speakeasies abounded and the party culture flourished. The KKK may not have been a pushover, but its power was ultimately reduced by the end of the decade. Advances in living standards and progressive ideas mean that it is fair to think of the decade of the 1920s as the “Roaring 20s” in spite of its negative sides.

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1920’s and Technology Have you ever wondered where that car in your driveway came from or when that T.V. in your living room was invented? The 1920’s was a decade of big inventions and important politics that helped shape the future of the United States and the world. The single seat airplane was getting popular with the military, radios were becoming more advanced and more popular (Guttman, 38), and the invention of the television came about in 1925(Shmoop Editorial Team). In the 20’s the automobile spurred a revolution in American life ever caused by one single device. It changed how we move, ended the solitude of the American farmer and the commute to the city jobs.

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To get a glimpse into the effectiveness of advertisements during this period, one can inspect the brilliant advertising campaigns targeted at middle class women. The women were taking care of the home and would thus be most interested in many of the new household items for sale. The advertisements were meant to have consumers associate emotions and ideals with products. For example, The Kellogg Brothers and Charles Post both succeeded in making the American public associate cereal with healthy eating, and thus cereal became a staple of American eating (Eversole). In summary, there was a cyclical relationship between industrialization, innovation and consumer culture.

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The 1920s carried much change in society. Some of these changes were more rights for women, jazz music, and prohibition. The people of the 1920s were disillusioned by society lacking in idealism and vision, sense of personal alienation, and Americans were obsessed with materialism and outmoded moral values (The Roaring Twenties).Cultural changes were strongly influenced by the destruction of World War I ending 1918. America needed to recover and with it youth rebelled against the norms of the older generations.

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1920s Advertising During the 1920s, advertisement started to increase and expand. Many ideas and tactics were used to lure the attention of the consumers. After World War I, America started to grow with a stable and growing economy. This flourishment made many American's live out the 1920s in prosperity.

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During the 1920’s the economy was booming and there were many changes to come to the United States. It was a time of transition from wartime to a peaceful time in the country. The Americans also had new challenges and new experiences such as the challenges for farmers after the war had ended. New amendments and new groups were formed. It took a while for the people to adjust to this new change but eventually they did.

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The 1920’s is known for a lot of thing, it has been called “The Roaring twenties” , “The Jazz age”, and so on. The 1920’s is also recognized as the consumer time. Some causes of the consumption of all these things is overproduction, and the economy was doing very well so everyone had a decent amount of money. Credit cards were a massive problem in the 1920’s, they were also a cause of the great depression. People were going out and grabbing stuff off the shelfs and charging all of it on credit.

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America became successful due to the occurrences that happened in the year of 1920, in the year of 1920's the economic boom was something big in the Americas. Throughout the year America succeeded because of the development of new things like the new technology during the war (WW1), the development of new industries, the automobile, more efficient production techniques, consumer goods/credit (fridges, radios, telephone etc), entertainment (Hollywood, cinemas, jazz clubs, speakeasies), stock markets (Wall Street), and skyscrapers. The industrial strength was one of the reasons why it prosper. The industrial strength helped because it help increase the jobs for people who were in need of one. The development of the automobile industry

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