Study On The Consumer Society Of The United States In 1920s

The current theoretical hot issue is about consumer society. Consumption exists in any era, but in the consumer society, consumption is no longer the traditional consumption of goods and accessory of production .Moreover, it becomes a form of consumer self-expression and a sign of identity and turns to be a dominating element in the society. It is not only a turning point of socio-economic structure and economic form, but also the comprehensive social and cultural transformation. Research on consumer society from a historical perspective has some academic and practical significance in order to explore its formation and recognize consumer society influence on china. This paper is divided into three parts.The first part, background introduction when the United States entered the consumer society. Consumer society was firstly born in the United States, which was connected with its own conditions. Rapid economic development and the basic completion of urbanization lay the material foundation of consumer society. Technological innovations offered possibility of the emergence of consumer society . New middle class criticizing of traditional values and way of life promoted advent of consumer society .Because of internal and external causes, the United States in the 1920s entered the initial stage of consumer society.The second part, its various performances in the United States after entering the consumer society. The United States saw some changes in the 1920s. Consumption began to be the socio-economic focus. Expanding consumption instead of lowering costs became enterprise new targets . Consumer society paid more attention to consumption than production. Beginning and increasing of public consumption prompted the United States to improve the social consumption volume and the content of consumption products. The popularity of consumption credit brought about great changes of consumption form. Social value in the United States changed greatly. In the endless pursuit of commodities, the concept of consumerism, hedonism and moral lifestyle became the main stream of society.The third part, influence on the United States consumer society. Consumer society in the 1920s was still in the initial stages. On the one hand, it indeed promoted the development of productive forces. On the other hand, its non-rational development and immaturity, its hedonism and money worship planted curse for the Great Depression and all kinds of problems hidden behind the prosperity.