| This study examines the fragmented moral culture of 1970's. It considers a potent set of oppositional outlooks on markets and consumer lifestyles that developed among an influential segment of the American middle class. Termed the "new class" in the sociological literature of the time, this group encompasses a portion of the American middle class whose tastes, cultural habits and moral styles were derived from the counterculture of the 1960's, and who shaped these sensibilities into the lifestyle practices of the 1970's. The moral boundaries defined by the new class designated oppositional views on selfhood, identity and the authenticity of personal life through a specialized approach to consumption informed by holistic moral precepts. But most importantly, it was through a distinct set of narratives (both biographical and social-historical) on personal development and modern social change, that the new class evolved a distinctly oppositional moral culture.;Combining deep biographical interviews, market research and archival study, it is argued that the traditional emphasis on hierarchical social differentiation in the sociology of market practices ignores the boundaries drawn by differences in moral style and the different moral narratives that support reflexive biographies. Moreover, this account of the emergence of reflexive moral narratives within consumer culture adds a much needed historical dimension to largely theoretical arguments for the current "postmodern" condition. Variously termed "postmodernist," "post-Fordist," "postindustrial" etc., the contemporary age is widely theorized as profoundly different from that of the prewar period, largely due to the increasing commodification of selfhood, identity and lifestyle. Through an interpretive investigation of the cultural narratives through which the new middle classes transformed the consumer culture of the 1970's, this transformation is revealed as an uneven, contentious and highly differentiated process of social change.;This study raises questions relevant to social theorists and sociologists of culture, and resolves them with the methods of the qualitative researcher, the historical archivist and the historian of media and popular culture. Its conclusions are relevant to general readers and scholars interested in contemporary debates between American and European sociologists of culture, social movements and social theory, as well as cultural studies, American studies and media studies. |
