One of the questions I can clearly remember from last class was which aspects of our American Civ courses have “stuck” with us so far. For me, that lesson is never to underestimate the power and influence of consumer culture. I can remember my year’s Civ I’s projects where we broke up into groups in order to focus on topics like houses and architecture; food; clothing, etc (I was in the food group, so my group made barely edible apple pudding). While making the PowerPoint presentation, it was really interesting to me how a particular meal or even kitchen utensils could convey volumes about their class or racial identity in society.
I believe we have continued to analyze consumer culture in Civ III, especially with the Enstad and Cohen books. I’ve noticed, though, that we’ve taken our analysis to the next level by examining ways that consumer culture helped create new yet “in-between” social spaces. In arguing how working class women created “an imagined community” through commodities like clothes and dime novels, Enstad uses the example of movies and movie theaters as places where such women could create a sense of their own identity. Seeing themselves reflected on the screen was empowering and also subversive: the movie house not only became “their own space,” but also challenged social and gender norms since they went relatively unsupervised.
In her book on the Great Depression, Cohen as well examines how consumer culture engendered a sense of national ethnic identity particularly in the 1920s. For example, since an African-American radio program would most likely be aired in several major American cities, African-Americans there can share a common link with others in another part of the country. I have to add, though, that I still find it hard to buy into her argument that the Great Depression homogenized the various ethnic groups and turned them into a consolidated “working class,” mainly because she had an overly positive outlook on the effects of the New Deal programs.
But all in all, I’ve come to really notice aspects of consumer culture, and it has added a new perspective on my thesis research now on Filipino migrant worker communities.