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Lecture Paper on Shelley Nickles' Article - “More is Better: Mass Consumption, Gender, and Class Identity in Postwar America” Introduction After World War II, Americans often associate the 1950s with a series of powerful cultural symbols: the "American Dream", which meant a home in the suburbs, job security in a large corporation, and a new car every few years. Although all historians characterized the postwar Fifties as a period of booming economy, linked to growth of the middle class, some of them were disapproval for the interpretation that this economic prosperity directly depending on business, trade and employment resulted in the social consequence of the affluence. According to the traditional ideas of the Fifties advanced by the so-called consensus school of historians, class differences in American society were progressively eroded and Americans were enjoying a happy life the modern consumer society brought. The ideas were disseminated nationwide through advertisement and mass media, especially the radio and television, which were regarded as the most important inventions of American consumer society. In contrast, the social critics, such as Vance Packard, indicated in his million-selling book "The Hidden Persuaders" that the advertisers used "buyer motivational research" and other psychological techniques in order to manipulate expectations and induce desire for products. He also argued that the manipulative techniques served for promoting politicians to the electorate in the American postwar era. Still, consumer society dominated the period of the 1950s in the United-States. However, some historians believed that such a consumer society was unable to make American society classless, that nation's leading industrialists dreamt of, because all Americans consumed, but not in the same way. Summery The so-called "Kitchen Debate" became the heart of American consumer economy. That can be seen in Shelley Nickles' article "More is better," which begins with the debate about the social and cultural consequences of working-class prosperity in the decade following World War II among the nation’s leading designers of appliances, automobiles, and other mass-produced goods. Shelley Nickles foresees the failure of the taste-makers, if they managed to insist upon their aesthetic of “less is more” instead of considering the taste - "more is better" of the working-class families who moved to the suburbs, because they had a purchasing power comparable to that of the middle-class families who preceded them there. According to the arguments in her article, Shelley Nickles shows that these working-class families, who could earn the middle wages, wanted to buy the goods embodying their social belonging linking to social environments and the sense of acceptance by others, for instance, family, friends, co-workers, and so on. Thus, they preferred large refrigerators, massive cars with tailfins and chrome, and generally shiny colours rather than single-hue grey colour scheme or style of simplicity that upper-class designers concentrated on promoting to the mass-market. Shelley Nickles shows the fact that a large number of blue-collar families until then could economically afford what was until then the privilege of the middle and upper classes did not bring them to adapt their tastes to the norm of the socially dominant group. In contrast, since they formed the bulk of the mass market, they in turn imposed their taste to the taste-makers, who had to admit that if they wanted to sell their goods, they had to respect that aesthetic of “more is better”. I. The shape of the future mass marketing in the 1950s In the postwar period, the question was whether design standards would have to accommodate blue-collar consumers' “more is better” idea about value or whether the working class would be uplifted by their new prosperity to accept the upper-middle class “less is more” style. During the postwar era, the working-class culture had an inevitable trend to enter mainstream cultural domain existing long before in the United-States. Thus, the fact that the rate of ownership of refrigerators throughout the US was doubled from 44% to about 90% thanks to working-class buyers, whose purchasing power was largely increased, progressively became a major part of consummation expenditure in the mass market. However, conservative upper-middle-class taste-makers and designers, who had contested against "more is better" aesthetic of household equipments, recognized that design standards should respond to the market realities, in other words, the newly prosperous working-class would be the most prospective customers after the war ended. The idea of mass production, which was advanced by Ford Motor Company in 1920s, demanded design standardization for the mass market, as called "Fordism." Before the postwar period, the designers were used to favour the design standard of efficiency and simplicity in order to satisfy the taste of more upper-middle-class consumers. Faced ongoing changed in the mass market, designers hoped to understand the different taste of consumers depending on their social class. Their consumer research revealed three characteristics of the taste of working-class buyers: larger volume of household equipments, flashiness and multi-colouring goods. Working-class women were considered as the head of householdship and made family purchases and investments' decision relying on their preference of styling. In the 1940s and the 1950s, many of American women struggled for fair pay, equal access to the jobs, helped by their unions. Before the 1960s, few working-class women became full-time workers, thus, as housewife, they nearly spent whole day to care for their house located in the outskirts, especially the kitchen and look after their children. Therefore, working-class women's favour of mass-produced goods could not be negligent, which, in contrast, the tastemakers had to attach importance to. Automobile industry, followed by the appliance industry, took the lead in echoing the demand of this new culture of “more is better” and created a ladder of consumption, when the bigger high-end car, General Motors Corporation's Cadillac, aimed at their target market from upper-middle class to working-class consumers. The Cadillac was the premier representative status symbol of the 1950s, with the tail fin and the “V” emblem; it embodied the rising prosperity of working-class men and women. Immediately after war, the household appliance industry and other goods also changed their marketing strategy more effective to enhance the competition power in the mass market based on working-class consumer, Servel’s choice for new "glittering" refrigerators replacing former design of austerity and refinement was an good example. The Great Depression and a saturated market caused a decline in car sales. Alfred Sloan, head of GM in the 1930s introduced the concepts of the upgrade and variety marketing, generally so-called "Sloanism," according to which more could be produced, faster and cheaper. In order to continue mass production, it was necessary that it was to be accompanied by mass consumption. In brief, although the market was diversified and particular models were aimed at particular classes of consumers, increasingly prosperous working-class women's persisting aesthetic of "more is better" became mainstream culture in the mass market of the Fifties in the US. II. “Middle-income group” and “middle-class” In the United States, the concept of a working class remains dimly defined. During postwar era, the workers provided a backbone for economic resurgence throughout the United States, in which national economy was thriving in almost all trades and professions. The working class, who was better paid, was put rapidly in middle-income group. The working class, according to sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert and Joseph Kahl, was the most populous in the United States, while other sociologists such as William Thompson, James Henslin and Joseph Hickey believed that the lower middle class was a little more populous. By these sociologists' very different opinions, the upper-lower wage families comprises differently from 25% to 55% of the American population. Many members of the working class, as defined by academic models, are often identified in the US as members of the middle class, and thus there was remarkable ambiguity over the term's meaning. 1. Motivation Research Traditional market research had been primarily quantitative and put direct questions to the consumers if they like the product or dislike it. In contrast, according to American contemporary economist Laura Lake, "Motivation Research used to investigate the psychological reasons why individuals buy specific types of merchandise, or why they respond to specific advertising appeals, to determine the base of brand choices and product preferences." Thus, "Motivation Research" appealed by sociologists became more effective method of studying complex of mass market after the World War II. The mass media, such as True Story Magazine, who could reach a very large working-class reader, appreciated this professional research to make clear social class' distinction, so that they could sign advertising contract with automobile and appliance industry that changed their marketing strategy to favour the working-class consumers. 2. Blue-collar and white-collar "Motivation research" uncovered that white-collar and blue-collar women viewed their kitchens and kitchen appliances in a different way, and these views shape their purchases' decision. Furthermore, their living room furnishings could reveal what class they belonged to. In spite of almost same income and in favour of household modernity, white-collar and blue-collar men and women had many difference: Blue-collar men/women White-collar men/women - Lacking educational attainment - High educational attainment - Employed in clerical, retail sales and low skill manual labour occupations - Professionals - Economic and occupational insecurity - High economic security - Emphasize external values - Pay attention to internal values - Kitchen "as heart of room" - The living room was more important - Up-to-date, substantial, shiny appliances - Be interested in minimizing the appliances in their kitchen - Substantial-looking furniture - Plain, functional styling of furniture Working-class men and women, according to some sociologists and tastemakers, made disappear the "collar line” during the 1950 in the US, more precisely, the line between them and lower-middle class consisting of semi-professionals. Conclusion During the American postwar era, working class' life was increasingly comfortable, but still distinctive. Working-class men and women's taste and domestic lifestyle influenced design standards of automobile, durable goods industry and other domains. Women’s outlook and work in the home were influenced by their husbands’ prospects and their jobs with middle income, so that these women were largely on their own to develop a new domestic culture. Moreover, aesthetic of “more is better” changed traditional social class and gender hierarchy and became American mainstream culture. The debate about taste among designers, motivation researchers and sociologists not only focused on the new mass market, but on studying society and culture. The older upper-middle class failed to preserve their own cultural privileges, and then a "statues anxiety" of social class didn't control any more a mass consumption. The women in the suburbs remained more prospective in the American mass market, because they reflected changes in the economy and social structure. It should be understood that these higher standards of living was considered as a symbol that women sought in order to preserve class identity and reformulate social relations, but not to apt to traditional design standards of "less is more" the middle class and tastemakers promoted. Commentary on Shelley Nickles' article In my opinion, Shelley Nickles' article seems to deliberately analyze the newly formed mass market based on rising prosperity of the working class during the postwar era in the United-States. The first major part in the article focuses on "Rosebud War," a very aggressive title, from which the reader could understand that in the US of the Fifties, working-class women persisted in their original taste, although their purchasing power has allowed them to buy the same goods, which only the middle class could afford before. The article emphasizes that the working-class women's culture of "more is better" in the very period becomes mainstream culture in the US, this point of view helps the reader understand how American consumer society changes from "above" to "below." Thus, the manufacturers and industrialists have to cater to the taste of working class. If they ignore the market realities, they would fail to compete in the mass market. The author convinces the reader, through some illustrations about the success of marketing strategy, such as the Cadillac's tailfin and Sevel's large flashy refrigerator, that the taste of the working class is not replaced by other design standard. Shelley Nickles introduces "Motivation Research" in this article, I agree with the MR's opinion that American consumer society is not classless, because the working-class identity should not only base on earnings, but also on their education, profession and behaviours. However, according to me, the author doesn't explain the reasons for which the working class become prosperous in this era, it might help us to see clearly why American working class insist upon their class identity. Nevertheless, if it should be given precedence of consideration on their middle income, I quote “around here, the working class is the middle class”