Consumerism increased as goods became more readily available through mass production and distribution. This easy access to abundance transformed society into one that values ownership. The expansion of the Black middle class in the US transformed the educational and economic aspirations of African Americans by providing more opportunities. In the 19th century, slaves were viewed as commodities and assigned monetary value based on their labor, which critics noted dehumanized them by treating them akin to mules. Middle-class dominance, a larger labor force, and new types of consumers enhanced consumerism.

2.  Consumerism started
to increase when
more goods were
made readily
available. Today, it is
easy to access an
abundance of
items, even in front of
a computer screen.
Items used to be more
scarce and harder to
access. To consume is
to own, and society
loves to own a lot.

3.  ―The expansion of the black middle class in the
United States in the second half of the twentieth
century transformed the educational and
economic aspirations of African Americans.
Between 1790 and 1860, few free blacks could
expect equal compensation for the same work
that a white person completed‖ Se123

4.  ―That was commodification:
the distant and different
translated into money value
and resolved into a single
scale of relative prices, prices
that could be used to make
even the most counter-
intuitive comparisons—
between the body of an old
man and a little girl, for
example, or between the
muscular arm of a field hand
and the sharp eye of a
seamstress, or, as many
nineteenth-century critics of
slavery noted, between a
human being and mule‖
(Johnson pg 58)

5.  ― Those hundreds of thousands of people
were revenue to their cities and states
where they were sold, and profits in the
pockets of
landlords, provisioners, physicians, and
insurance agents long before they were
sold‖ (Johnson 6)
 Human capital is worth more than capital
from machines is worth today. Slaves were
a precursor to the consumption society we
have today.

6.  The primary reason why the South was more
beneficial was because of the relevancy of slaves
and the cotton industry. Land in the South was
better for the production of cotton, and the South
was more involved in the slave trade. Northerners
were not as fond of slavery, but were dependent
on the south for their imports of cotton and
tobacco. Agriculture being more prevalent in the
economy also leads to more wealth in southern
states.

7.  ―The productivity
on which the
nineteenth-century
industrialists prided
themselves
required not only
their own diligent
labors but also their
employment of the
period’s newest
technologies of
production, transp
ortation, and
communication‖
(Blaszczyk 198)

8.  The steel mill that
Carnegie brought over
was located in Pittsburgh.
It enabled them to
produce larger amounts
of steel, in a shorter time
span, resulting in a higher
productivity rate for
products made with
steel. Ingham, John N.
"Clash of the Titans:
Andrew Carnegie and
Pittsburgh's Old Iron
Masters." (Blaszczyk 192)

9.  The Bessemer steel
industry in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
allowed for industry in this
area to become more
efficient. Steel is used to
make a variety of
products such as
cutlery, automobiles (as
mentioned), medical
supplies, houses, buildings
, and even roads. By
increasing the availability
of steel, we allotted for
the creation of more
industry.

10.  This Era assisted in changing the working conditions and overall regulations regarding jobs
 Commonalities among workers (http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/reform.html)
› They worked long hours - about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. They all hoped for a federal law that would
require an 8-hour work day.
› They had to deal with the impersonality of the large factory and the sense of being an anonymous cog in a
big wheel.
› They were subjected to poor wages, wage reductions, and inflated living costs. As owners tried to raise
profits, many laborers were forced to live in company-owned homes and shop in company-owned stores with
inflated prices.
› They faced dangerous and unsafe working conditions each day. The railroads were a perfect example. In
1881, 30,000 railroad workers were injured or killed on the job.
› They faced a growing sense of powerlessness as corporate profits grew; the rich got richer and the poor got
poorer.
› Thus, some workers turned to unions for help.

11.  ―The program which American industry proposes to put into
effect is aimed ay accomplishing two things:
› 1. Increasing the opportunities for all to earn
› 2. Increasing the opportunities for all to buy” – “National
Association of Manufacturers Outlines A Plan for Postwar
Prosperity, 1944” –(Blaszczyk 375)
It was a goal to create a booming society as soon as World War II
was over

12.  ―Other Federal
Expenditures, such as
the Serviceman’s
Readjustment Act of
1944 ( better known as
the GI bill of rights)
and government
support for housing
and highway
construction, likewise
contributed to the
emergence of a post-
war ―mixed economy‖
of public and private
spending that kept
mass consumption as
its heat for a quarter
century‖ (Cohen 118)

13.  American
consumerism was
first built on a
foundation of
only wealthy
citizens. When
products
become more
mass produced, it
makes them
more readily
available. You no
longer had to be
wealthy to
purchase certain
goods

14.  The creation of the middle-class, allowed for more
people to get a college education. The concept of
loans also provided for more people wanting to further
their education. New Jersey is populated by a variety
of public and private schools that we use at our
disposal. This consumption leads to the consumption
of other goods and services.

15.  ―Consumption is
the sole end and
purpose of all
production and the
welfare of the
producer ought to
be attended
to, only so far as it
may be necessary
for promoting that
of the
consumer.[Adam
Smith, The Wealth
of Nations, 1937
Modern Library
edition, p. 625]‖

17.  ―Even as these innovations
squeezed greater profits out of
existing demand, they continued to
assume the existence of a
unified, often referred to as ―middle-
class‖, market where the mass of
consumers shared a consistent set
of Populuxe tastes and desires.‖
(Johnson 294)

18.  In New Jersey, the physical
manifestation of black
professionals work was the
all-black town. These places
functioned to undermine the
institution of slavery both
covertly throughout the
Underground Railroad and
overtly through the
promotion of abolitionists’
rhetoric and policies. With a
base of operations and a
cohort of organized
families, the impetus for
racial equality in the Garden
State grew from the fertile
soil of black achievement‖
(Suburban Erasure 125)

19.  When an area is
more suburban
rather than
rural, it leads to
increased
consumption. If
you are located
in a place where
the nearest mall
in thirty miles
away, chances
are you do not
patronize this
area often

20.  ―By the mid-
1950s, however, co
mmercial
developers—many
of whom owned
department
stores—were
constructing a
new kind of
marketplace, the
regional shopping
center aimed at
satisfying
suburbanites’
consumption and
community needs‖
395 B

21.  The Northeast is one of the most
consumer oriented societies. Many
places that are still primarily agrarian
are less likely to consume as much as
we do. When an area is more
suburban rather than rural, it leads to
increased consumption. If you are
located in a place where the nearest
mall in thirty miles away, chances are
you do not patronize this area often.
As we shifted from agrarian to
industrial, it leads to more patronizes.
The inhibition of consuming could be
noted as having a balance between
how many consumers you have and
how many products they can
purchase. You cannot expect high
consumerism if there is not a lot of
money coming into these people who
you desire to buy your products or
services.

22.  ―New Jerseys
transformation from
an agricultural
economy to one
based on the
residential and
commercial growth
of suburbs allows this
study to consider
African American
experience in areas
where there were few
industrial
jobs‖(Suburban
Erasure 3)

23.  ―New York City in particular
was ablaze with consumer
activity in the late 1960s and
1970s, boasting a Consumer
Affairs Department ( under
successive Commissioners
Bess Myerson, Betty
Furness, and Elinor
Guggenheimer); a Consumer
Protection Corps under the
Commissioner of Markets;
neighborhood consumer
complaint offices and
organizations, such as the
Harlem Consumer Education
Council; much consumer
legislation and regulation;
and frequent conferences
and other initiatives.‖ (Pg 521
COHEN)

24.  Consumers were
now in the practice
of living outside of
their limits. This
leap, created a
consumer society
with the ideal that
you can spend
when you are not
sufficiently funded.
It also created the
concept of being
able to spend, build
up credit, and
simply pay back
with the cash you
already have on
hand.

25.  ―A small elite, of course, had long enjoyed higher
consumption standards and habitually bought luxury
goods and services. Elite consumerism created
employment for small numbers of artisans and
merchants, often clustered around the courts and
trading centers of each country‖

26.  Middle-class dominance, growth of the labor force from African American
and female entrance, more productive industries, and a new type of
consumers who had more to consumer enhanced the world we live in
today. I see today how much I can consume in a day, even without the
influence of outside sources. It has become engrained in populated
societies to purchase what we need or desire.