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The American Century: 1898-2001

January 10th, 2012 Total: 7 pages

Consumerism: How it made the affluent middle class ignore the Civil Rights Movement
The American middle class consumer was living the American Dream during the 1950s. However the traditional American Dream of high moral and values had instead been substituted by consumerism and the fulfillment of the consumers desires. During this essay I will examine how the spread of consumerism influenced the average middle class citizen to base his identity on the commodities he purchased. Through Siegfried Zepfs1 combination of Marxist theory with Sigmund Freuds psychoanalysis, I will argue that this identity of commodities resulted in that the middle class showed little interest in the Civil Rights Movement of the blacks, because it through the advertising and entertainment industry had been socialized to conform to the norm, which first of all dictated that everyone should take care of their own narcissistic desires. Since the middle class was the largest class, its conformity to racist norms was the main obstacle for the Civil Rights Movement. The post-World War II years experienced a high economic growth which spread affluence to a greater part of the American society than ever before, and enlarged the middle class to the double size of what it had been during the 1920s2. During the war many Americans had saved their money, which they were ready to spend now that they had confidence in that the days of the Depression would not return3. The prosperity seemed to have come to stay. This conviction spurred the birth of a huge entertainment and consumer industry. Advertisements came from the streets into the homes, since 90% of the Americans in 1960 came to own at least one television set, more people than those who had running water4. Even though the 50s was a time of prosperity, many critics could not help noticing the extreme conformity in the American society. In this context, the well-off middle class was characterized by their silence in the debate on central public issues (such as race) and their aversion to risk taking5. The class was very influenced by this new trend and therefore the television, which showed no diversity. In fear of alienating viewers, the three main

Professor Siegfried Zepf is a former director of the Institute of Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Saarland in Germany. 2 Pauline Maier, Merritt Roe Smith, Alexander Keyssar, Daniel J. Kevles, Inventing America A History of the United States (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), 831. 3 Ibid., 800 4 Ibid., 830-831 5 Ibid., 840

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TV channels rarely broadcasted controversial transmissions, thus settling for lowest-common-denominator programming6. Before I start analysis, a point that should be taken up is the still existing discussion in the field of sociology about structure and agency. While the structure is basically the limited framework in which individuals can act, think and unfold their identities, the agency model emphasizes the actions of individuals, thus arguing that they are independent of structures and capable of deciding their own actions and think for themselves7. During this essay I will mainly look at the structure, which the powerful advertising and entertainment industry created in society and how it affected especially the middle class. However I cannot deny the fact that these structures were made by individuals working in the industries. None the less, since we are dealing with influencing the subconscious of people, this influence cannot be completely planned, since it is per definition impossible to know all consequences that influencing the subconscious can bring. The structures (norms) that the advertisement and entertainment industry created, were available to the whole country, but were adapted first and foremost by the middle class. Blacks, on the contrary, did everything they could to fight against them, since these structures also were the base of racism and discrimination. Creating an identity based on commodities During the 40s the consumer had been seen as a rational buyer. However this view was quickly disproved, and instead the 50s witnessed a view of the consumer as an irrational individual8. Advertising in the 50s was based mainly on the ideas of Sigmund Freud and his discovery of the subconscious.9 For the first time, a large number of psychologists had been hired by the advertising industry. By taking advantage of the subconscious desires of the consumer, they were supposed to increase the sales of commodities. Since I will only be arguing how the effects of the consumer and entertainment industry influenced the middle class to conform to the norm, I could be accused of arguing for a causation that is defined too narrowly. However I wont be arguing that it was the only causation, but simply a very dominant one.

6 7

Ibid. Rob Stones. Structure and Agency, Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2007 8 Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky. Consumer behavior: yesterday, today and tomorrow, Business Horizons, May/June 1993 Vol. 3 9 Ibid.

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According to Siegfried Zepf and other critics of consumerism such as Adorno and Marcuse, consumerism made the individual create an identity based entirely on the commodities he bought. In this context Marcuse argued that a one dimensional man had been created, which in the words of Riesman and Glazier was an other directed individual, and which Adorno named the manipulative type10.In other words, these thinkers were saying that the individual had begun to see himself as a commodity, free of all individuality, and saw others the same way11. My further argument, which will relate the American consumer society of the 50s to Zepfs theory, I will base on David Riesmans description of the individuals in the American consumer society as other-directed12. This character, Riesman argued, seemed to be emerging in the new middle class in many of the larger American cities during the 50s. This type of person used his contemporaries, either those that he personally knew, or those with whom he was acquainted through the mass media, as a guideline for creating his own identity. By being very sensitive to the behavior of his guiding contemporaries, he became very much inclined to conform at the expense of his individuality13. In general, Zepf agrees with Riesman, but especially emphasizes the role of the mass media in the creation of conformity. When applied to the 50s America, the individuals purpose of watching television became to create an identity based on his favorite television characters and live his life as he perceived that these characters would have done it. At the same time, in hope of acquiring an identity that was admired by others, the individual would try to conform by being very sensitive to who other individuals admired and what commodities they bought. The most important thing for the conformist individual was that he felt that he was admired and not for what he was admired14. This wish to conform was exploited and enforced by the advertising industry, with statements like Every year, from east and west, from north and south, more people come out to see the Chevrolet than any other car15, thus proving the popularity of the car model. Advertisers also enforced conformity by showing stereotypical gender roles: While the man always had a manly attitude, slick hair and constantly wearing a suit, the woman was attractive, dressed up and behaved like a good housewife or an elegant lady, emanating sensuality and good manners.16

10

Siegfried Zepf. The relationship between the unconscious and conscious a comparison of psychoanalysis and historical materialism, International Forum of Psychoanalysis; Vol. 19, issue 3, 2010: 146 11 Ibid. 12 Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Jon Gjerde, Edward J. Blum. Major Problems in American History, Volume II: Since 1865 ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2012), 340-341 13 Ibid., 341 14 Zepf, The relationship between the unconscious and conscious a comparison of psychoanalysis and historical materialism, 149. 15 YouTube: 1956 Chevrolet TV Ad: The Future Right Now!, a representative example. 16 YouTube: 1950s Coca Cola Commercial, a representative example.

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But how did the individual get to see himself as a commodity in the first place? By combining a Marxist perspective with Freuds theory of psychoanalysis, Siegfried Zepf gives an answer to this question. Since many children started to get more and more toys and watch more television shows, their parents slowly became reduced to objects, which prevented the children from experiencing an emotional intimacy with them17. Like their children, the parents also identified themselves with their commodities, and therefore started to treat the children as objects by being present physically, but not emotionally. Since the childrens need for emotional intimacy and love did not get fulfilled by their parents, they instead compensated by playing with their toys and watching television shows and movies, which to some extent gave them a narcissistic functional pleasure18. Both for the children and the parents, the result of such valuing of consumer goods was the creation of a great self-idealization. As for the children, they mostly created a self-idealization by idealizing their heroes on television shows19 20.Self-idealization was created because no person cared for the individual. Every individual possessed a natural need to be loved. None the less, it was unlikely that this need could be satisfied by other persons, since these also had the same narcissistic and self-centered need of approval. Therefore, it seemed more likely that relationships with others would be characterized by the same coldness that characterized the childhood of children in a consumers republic21. Since the individual could not receive any love or approval from other individuals, he then would turn to temporarily quell his need by purchasing commodities, which through advertisement had been constructed to symbolically fulfill a subconscious need to be loved, thus pushing aside the subconscious fear of losing love22. By attaching ideas such as freedom, masculinity, femininity or happiness to the commodities, the advertising industry created an illusionary need for these ideas as symbolic compensations for the individuals hidden need of approval and love23. By buying a commodity, the individual felt that he had become the bearer of this idea that he valued, for which he hoped to gain the admiration of others24.

17

Zepf, The relationship between the unconscious and conscious a comparison of psychoanalysis and historical materialism, 147 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid., 148 20 Hoffman, Gjerde, Blum, Major Problems in American History, 333 21 Zepf, The relationship between the unconscious and conscious a comparison of psychoanalysis and historical materialism, 148 22 Ibid., 149 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid., 150

Dwb132 141089-2843 Racial discrimination

The American Century: 1898-2001

January 10th, 2012 Total: 7 pages

Even though the 50s were a time of economic growth, many tend to forget that everybody was not included in this dream coming true for the average white Americans. During the decade around 50 million people still lived in poverty25, and women, homosexuals and ethnic minorities such as blacks were still heavily discriminated against. The blacks were a minority, which according to the middle class norm was less human and therefore should be discriminated against. A huge amount of the new middle class moved to the suburbs, where they tried to avoid any contact with the blacks, thus making the suburbs a white haven, while the blacks became forced to live in ghettos in the downtown areas26. Until now my argument has been that the white middleclass during the 50s was socialized not to pay attention to the blacks fight for civil rights, because fulfilling hidden desires through consumption mainly drew its attention. For the middle class racism was the norm, which was not to be questioned and the question of race had little importance to it. On the contrary race and racism meant everything to the blacks27. Obviously it would have been contradictory if they had conformed to the norm, so instead they fought it in order to gain basic civil rights. In 1944 the GI Bill was passed. It was supposed to support the veterans who wanted to start a new life after coming home from World War II by providing them with an education, favorable loans and housing. Like all white veterans, the blacks also wanted a new life: a new job, new house and an education28. However they did not receive a warm welcome. White counselors tended to channel the blacks into low level jobs, which was exactly what the black vets wanted to escape from29. Even though the GI Bill did not discriminate, the universities, and the banks that cooperated with the program did30. The universities discriminated heavily against the blacks, and many of them refused to enroll them on their courses. Housing options, especially in the popular all-white suburbs, were very limited. The discrimination went so far that the US Department of Veteran Affairs and Federal Housing Administration reinforced red areas where minorities and black people lived, so that they could easier avoid lending

25 26

Hoffman, Gjerde, Blum, Major Problems in American History, 341 Maier, Smith, Keyssar, Kevles, Inventing America 839 27 Stephen L. Franzoi. Social Psychology (New York: McGraw-Hill: 2006), 288 28 Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers Republic (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), 167 29 Ibid., 169 30 Ibid., 170

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them money31. When a few black veterans finally succeeded in getting a loan, they were typically discriminated against by being offered poor loan risks32. Before the war only a few protests had taken place in order to stop racial discrimination. However after the war, things started to change for the better. After having fought for America during World War II, many blacks felt that the least the white Americans could do, was to accept them as equals and part of society33. At the same time more blacks had learned to criticize the discrimination and fight for their rights in a language that Americans understood34. Aimed at a paradox in the core values of freedom and equality in the American society, the criticism was now more striking than earlier. In an interview, the black housing expert Robert C. Weaver explained how blacks had been excluded from the free market, especially with regard to housing which was a basic commodity. Furthermore he argued that when it came to blacks, the market was regulated to the detriment of the blacks, which obviously was against the basic principle of the free market35. Thus the struggle came to be based around this paradox, equality of access to the market, and especially around the public commercial settings36. Therefore the blacks started to protest in the public space by performing sit-ins in lunch counters, refusing to shop in segregated shops and boycotting the segregated busses. Even thought the majority of the struggle for civil rights was centered in the public space, what the blacks obviously wanted was equal rights and treatment in any aspect of their life the public space was simply the most convenient setting to express the inequality37. As I mentioned earlier, the average middle class consumer was a narcissistic conformist who did not dare to go against the norm and fight for the Civil Rights Movement. During this essay I have argued that the entertainment and consumer industries were the most important actors in the creation of the conformity and the norm. Since the consumer had based his identity on what this industry had to offer, a rebellion against the norm would be unthinkable, because that would be a rebellion against himself. On the other hand, the blacks were fighting against the norm and against the conformity and the ignorance of the middle class. And when they after World War II began to protest with new means against the core values in the American society, they finally reached an important goal towards desegregation when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were implemented.

31 32

Ibid. Ibid., 169 33 Ibid., 180 34 Ibid., 188 35 Ibid., 174 36 Ibid., 175 37 Ibid., 190

Dwb132 141089-2843 References: Literature: -

The American Century: 1898-2001

January 10th, 2012 Total: 7 pages

Maier, Pauline; Smith, Merritt Roe; Keyssar, Alexander; Kevles, Daniel J. (2006): Inventing America: A history of the United States, Volume 2. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.

Cohen, Lizabeth (2003): A Consumers Republic. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs & Jon Gjerde, eds. (2012): Major Problems in American History, Volume 2: Since 1865. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Franzoi, Stephen L. (2006): Social Psychology. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Internet: www. youtube.com: 1956 Chevrolet TV Ad: The Future Right Now! URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY2crZY-THI&feature=related, accessed Jan. 9th, 2012. www. youtube.com: 1950s Coca Cola Commercial URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4hlH-lX5r4&feature=related, accessed Jan. 9th, 2012. Journals from the internet: Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne.Consumer behavior: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Business Horizons; May/Jun 1991, Vol. 3. URL: http://web.ebscohost.com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/ehost/detail?sid=2f0f8364-169e-4844-9ad6f55dc426b4e9%40sessionmgr115&vid=10&hid=104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d# db=bth&AN=9707080015, accessed jan. 9th, 2012 Stones, Rob. Structure and Agency. Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2007. URL: http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/subscriber/tocnode?id=g978140512 4331_chunk_g978140512433125_ss1-293, accessed jan 9th, 2012. Zepf, Siegfried. The relationship between the unconscious and conscious - a comparison of psychoanalysis and historical materialism. International Forum of Psychoanalysis; Vol. 19, issue 3, 2010. URL: http://www.tandfonline.com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/doi/abs/10.1080/08037060903143992, accessed, jan. 9th, 2012