Summary Of Lizabeth Cohen's A Consumers Republic

Regulation and Race, Consumers and Producers in Post War America Lizabeth Cohen’s A Consumers’ Republic.

Caleb Chou-Green United States Economy & Globalization Professor Greason Macalester College 29th February, 2024.

A Consumers Republic, The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America is an economics and history book by Harvard professor Lizabeth Cohen. The book goes into detail about the origins of consumerism in the booming American economy after the War. Cohen explores the rise of consumer culture in the United States after World War II and its profound impact on American society, economy, and politics. She also examines how advertising and the relationships between producers and consumers have changed and evolved over

The population of Blacks living in New Jersey reached nearly 40% by the 1940s, and Newark seemed like a place where Black migrants could come to work and find economic opportunity. The sheer size of the community in the area provided them with the power to fight back against some of the discrimination that they received. From movie theaters only accepting White patrons, to Black only sections at baseball games, the black community rallied to change the laws. Newark began to shift from a city of Klansmen and Jim Crow laws, to a Black metropolis with jobs and opportunities for everyone. This is not to say that there was still discrimination, black trade and purchasing was often refused by private business up until 1965, but after the war there were many efforts to curb job discrimination and differential pay. Newark was by no means a perfect city rid of racism, but economically it was easier for black veterans after the war to get on their feet and enjoy the fruits of the new American economy. This however begs the question, nearly 75 years later, how does racism factor into our modern consumer-based economy. Does it still exist? Who benefits from this

While newspaper ads had existed for a long time, the new concept of each family owning a television opened new avenues for companies to weasel their way into the American household. Now an estimated $300 billion is spent in America each year on advertising alone. Advertising alone has become one of the largest economies in the world. After Jim Crow we saw the rise of less explicit racism, especially in advertising, negative stereotyping in advertising was on the rise. Commercials depicting Black men would often be accompanied by hip-hop music and having exceptional athletic ability, while Black women were portrayed as being irrational and angry. On top of these obvious stereotypes that we have likely seen before in advertising, there was also an increase in targeted advertising to black communities that promoted harmful products. Companies began promoting alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food, to black audiences and hiking the prices of these goods in majority black neighborhoods. This difference in advertising further exacerbated the divide between Black and White Americans. Producers saw Black communities, though often not as wealthy, as an opportunity to take advantage of and get hooked on addictive