There are a few main points in Visions of Classlessness by Roland Marchand. First, the rise of popular culture after World War II, and the juggernaut called advertising Americans were becoming classless. Second, while the old classes were disappearing, new ones, based on new ideas, were taking over. Thus keeping America separated by classes. Marchand also delves into the mass consumption of the 1950s and 1960s.
Another aspect is the emerging (I hesitated to say new. It was always there, but in the back ground), of the teenager, and the markets and problems with them. Marchand talks about the impact that the Cold War had on all of these things. All of these issues are related to each other. Some of them came about because of one or more of the other issues. “In response they embraced popular culture reveries that seemed to enhance their sense of personal dominion.” (p. 144).
Charles Roland Marchand was born in Seattle in 1933.He attended Stanford University where he earned a B.A. in journalism, graduating summa cum laude in 1955. He served as a naval officer for three years, then returned to Stanford, and completed his Ph.D. in history in 1964. He then joined the teaching staff at the University of California, and specialized in 20th century United States History. Professor Marchand's teaching skills are well known to many students and alumni. UC Davis's Academic Senate honored Marchand with its Distinguished Teaching Award. He was a national finalist for the American Historical Association's Mentorship Award. Marchand, who was eligible for retirement in 1991 continued to teach until the eve of his final hospitalization in the fall of 1997. Marchand was also an internationally acclaimed scholar. His book, Advertising the American Dream, established his international reputation as a leading scholar of the cultural role of business in 20th century United States. His last book, Creating the Corporate Soul, was published posthumously by the UC Press in the spring of 1998.
First of all the Cold War was the leading force behind all of the other issues. When the servicemen were coming home from Europe and the Pacific, everyone thought the country would go back to normal. Small towns, large families; mainly agricultural was how the country was, and how they hoped it would remain. The Cold War with the Soviet Union changed that in many ways. Granted, with the baby boom, there were still large families, but the old ideas of the family had changed. It evolved (and is still evolving today) into a weaker family unit. This will be discussed more with teenage culture. People moved to cities and worked in factories. Men felt insecure about the future. They worried about another war, possibly a bigger, more destructive one than they just fought. Marchand said about it, “Instead, the postwar world brought bureaucratic complexity, cold war insecurity and a shrunken sense of individual mastery.” (p. 144).
“Inspired by the sweeping democratic promises of wartime ideology and a hunger for security and stability, Americans welcomed the notion of classless prosperity.” (p. 144). This statement by Marchand is a prime example of the American mindset towards classes and what they represented. Before the war the classes were distinctly noticeable. There was the elite upper class. They were the rich and famous of America. Most of the wealth was in these few hands. The middle class consisted of regular businessmen and large farmers. This was the larges section of the nation. Last there were the poor. These people struggled to make ends meet and some were at the point of starvation. “One measure of increasing homogeneity was a decline in competition from ethnic cultures. By the time of World War II, unrestricted immigration had been cut off for a full generation.” (p. 144). Without new ideas or new “blood” in circulation, the class distinctions disappeared. With fewer immigrants, the clothing industry was able to concentrate on just a handful of styles, instead of a few different styles from many cultures. This aided in the rise of classlessness. America was tired of classes; the classes that had existed caused many problems. Television did much to bring America together as one class. “Actually TV probably served more to nationalize and homogenize than either to uplift of degrade.” (p. 145). Television formed a new consciousness in the American mind. Shows brought us new heroes, real and made up. Television seemed to bring everyone together.
While television was leading America toward classlessness, advertising on the television was pulling us into new classes. With advertising on the television, every family could see the same products. This was not always true of magazines, where magazines were geared towards specific people. But neighbors with different backgrounds could see the same ads. This caused competition among neighbors. One family would get a new appliance, and then their friends would want to get one as well. Thus “keeping up with the Joneses” was born. This scrambling for position in society created new classes. Not everyone had enough money to buy a new oven or refrigerator. This caused bitterness and widened the gap that was closing between people. New classes were redefined. Now you were separated by what style of house you had, or by how and with what it was furnished. For those that had plenty of money this was no big deal, but for those that didn't have the money it caused problems. Families started taking out loans for cars and other big purchases. Putting more debt on themselves, and struggling even more. This helped to widen the gap between classes. Some people turned to psychology, but this only helped to escalate the problem. “The message was simple: people's problems were individual. "Negative thinking," not technology social forces, or institutional structures was the cause of feelings of powerlessness and frustration.” (p. 152).
The last area to talk about is the teenage market. Teens were always around, but with all the combined effects of television, mass consumption, and increased income, teens became an economic force to be reckoned with. Their parents made more money and in turn, they had more money to give to their children. This led advertisers to start producing ads to make kids spend their money on them. This caused some unexpected results. First of all the teens realized that they were being targets, as were their parents. This unwanted attention led some teens towards delinquency. Others started using their new status to try to make the world a better place. Think of the war protests of the 1960s 1970s, these teens were their role models.
As delinquency skyrocketed, the media tried to turn this into a profit. They made movies like, Rebel without a Cause to show the angst in the youth of the time. Teens also helped launch Rock and Roll music. This was another escape for teens that mass media used for profit. This brought teen culture into pop culture. While the teens thought they were being rebellious with their music and attitudes, they were really selling out. Or more true to the case, sold out by mass media. And this was done for huge profits. Rock and Roll and teen rebel movies were being made towards teens. And other movies and music was being made to be enjoyed by adults. This was another indication of new classes. “Teen culture and rock "n" roll, however, were not the only signs in the late 1950s of a possible countermarch in popular culture away from homogeneity towards segmentation.” (p. 155).
All these things factored in the reality of the day, and in some ways it still holds true today. That, while we may strive to become one people, country or even one world, other forces are there to break it down into different segments. There will probably always be different classes of people. Classes themselves are not breaking down society, but it is the constraints that we put on them that hurts. We have only ourselves to blame for that.
