HREQ 1040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Jack Weatherford, Ernest Gellner, Quaker Oats Company
9 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Title of article: capitalism and the making of the consumer", excerpt by. There was a major transition from 1880 to 1930 in the rate and level of commodity consumption. Examples: food production grew almost 40 percent from 1899 to 1905. By the late 1920"s, one in every six americans owned an automobile. The author says that all of this consumption occurs in a society in which 2 percent of the people owned 60 percent of the wealth, whereas the bottom 50 percent owned only 5 percent. Emily fogg mead said the ability to want and choose . All americans virtually play the role of a consumer, laborer or capitalist. As the author explains as consumers buy things; as laborers they work for wages; and as capitalists they invest money in banks, insurance policies, pension plans, stocks and education from which they expect profit.
