Fordism, Post-Fordism and the Flexible System of Production

American culture in 1950s and today have numerous similarities “In the 50s, cars were flashier and more luxurious than ever...and used as a symbol of status. Similarly, today, upscale vehicles are still flashy and sleek…and upper-class consumers use them to show the status of their wealth.” Depending on the income that people earn, cars that contain more features are of better quality and class. Secondly, in the 1950s, ads had begun to seek out the attention on marketing for children. The products sold have cartoon characters and bright colors. In the modern era, citizens use similar tactics, using bright colors that are put at eye level. Children appeal to bright colors and characters when a company advertises on T.V. or in stores. Next, huge department stores became popular due to middle class’ increased power on spending. Now, the large chain department stores of Dillard’s and Macy’s are still very popular. People enjoy going out and just spending their money on the inventories that each department store has. “Then in the 50s, fast food became a

Unfortunately, advertising is sending our country into a quick downward spiral, doing an immense amount of harm and little good. Companies pay millions of dollars each year, in hopes to successfully pull the wool over our eyes and get their product sold. The dishonesty is leaving the citizens of this country with nothing to gain. The biggest problem with advertising is that the majority of it is alarmingly misleading. Advertisements convey an unrealistic view of a particular product. Companies go to extraordinary lengths to persuade consumers to indulge in unnecessary luxuries. Once again, the consumer falls victim to their tricks and

The rise in advertisement played a key role in the rise of consumption. Thanks to well-developed advertisement campaigns, America redefined what a necessity is. Advertisers encouraged Americans to actively work towards maintaining a high social standing. “Advertisers made no secret of their intention to promote novelty for its own sake, in the hope that consumers would exchange perfectly serviceable goods for goods that conformed to the latest fashions” (Lasch, 2000). Consumers devoured this advertisement scheme and began to rapidly increase their spending. Many advertisements for common, household products made claim that they could make the normal appear comparable to the high end. For example, Lux, a soap company, ran an ad in 1920 that depicted two women talking - one of the women complemented on the other on the quantity of sweaters she owned, only to find out that it is not a new sweater, but rather her old sweater that Lux soap made it look brand new (Lux)! Men and women alike began to believe

According to Richard Maltby (2003) commercial aesthetic is used to describe Hollywood’s aesthetics system, driven as it is by the existence of entertainment as a commercial commodity. From this perspective, Hollywood’s most profound significance lies in its ability to turn pleasure into a product we can buy. An understanding of Hollywood’s commercial aesthetic requires a consideration of both the formal conventions of Hollywood movies and the external social and cultural pressures that regulate movies as products of a system of mass production and distribution (pp. 580-581). Each Hollywood movie is best implicated as an 'opportunist ' congregation of unalike 'elements ' as reasoned out by Maltby. In order to best mollify the (perceived) market-place at a particular point in time these rudiments are transported together by producers and production companies.

Wilks 1 Stephanie Wilks His 1050 Sec 201 April 10, 2010 Roland Marchand and Kelly Schrum: Critical Analysis of Consumerism Post WW II American was a place full of optimism and fear. The American people had survived 20 years of depression and war to find new prosperity and an increase in mass production of goods and services that improved quality of life. This meant better times for Americans, but fears over the Cold War, threat of an evermore intrusive American government and loss of individualism existed as well. These high expectations and anxieties played a great deal into how people consumed. Eventually these factors combined with aggressive advertising marketing, with the help of media (mainly TV), led to the emergence of a whole new

From IPhones to new cars to discounted food, advertisements and the desire for the newest or cheapest items surround humans every day. Socially we are held responsible to not only “keep up with the Joneses” anymore, but also the Kardashians, Gates, and Walton families. Today’s society has proven that the desire to have the newest items for the most affordable prices stands more important than our true happiness. Joseph Turow provides in his article, The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry Is Defining Your Identity and Worth, which the advertising industry has greatly affected your consumption habits and the prices you look for. James A. Roberts grows on that idea, in that with the help of these advertising firms, you continue to run

During the 1950’s art took a major turn in history from traditional styles depicting people and scenes of everyday life to abstract thoughts and ideas that were transformed onto a canvas to express emotions and ideals in society. People, events, and society have always impacted several styles of art, but the consumer culture in the 1950’s impacted art in a new completely unique way. Post WWII society was more industrialized and more focused on developing and selling new products. The postwar generation had more disposable income to spend on the latest and greatest products and the market turned to advertisements in mass media to get their products out there to consumers. With televisions and films increasing in popularity the market flooded these forms of media with catchy flashy ads that showed favorable people like movie stars using products. With the increasing use of mass media, the culture shifted to consumerism which effectively shifted art as well. Art was directly impacted by the consumer culture because of society’s use of advertisements, photographs, and films which artists like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol used those elements in their own works to portray the change of societal standards in a new modern style of art called pop art.

History 's records often overlook ordinary people, but collectively, they make significant and abiding social change. A social and economic order within America propelled, perhaps unconsciously, by the people, is consumerism. Originating in the nineteenth century, consumerism revolutionized the way individuals thought, behaved, and interacted with each other. Coming into full bloom during the Industrial Revolution, consumerism fueled a new desire for material goods, unnecessary for and unrelated to basic survival. The idea for mass production, a cheaper and more profitable means of consumption, arose with the presence of advancing knowledge and technological power. The businessmen in charge of the industry at the time quickly put together that the financial success of mass production, required mass consumption. Consequently, a means for mass communication needed to be devised. And so, advertisement and media, the vehicles and instruments for consumption, were born (Ewen 2).

Is consumerism good? Anyone living in modern day society may think so. We can easily look around and witness all of the conveniences that consumerism grants us. Appliances help to alleviate our work load, electronics nullify any dull moments with instant entertainment, and the latest fashion trends of strictly the top brands allow us to be the envy of our peers. So, is consumerism good? That’s the central question addressed within the essays The Happiness Conspiracy, Needing the Unnecessary, and The Grill-Buying Guide.

Consumerism is damaging to our society, in our North American society consumerism is often portrayed to be a negative aspect of people’s lives. However, one can also argue positive effects that result from consumerism, or emphasize on the negative effects of consumerism and how it can be a constraining force in one’s own life. Consumerism is an idea of an economic policy that the market is shaped by the choice of the consumer and continues to emerge to shape the world’s mass markets. Some of the negative effects of consumerism that many critics may argue and that will be further emphasized on are the overexploitation of consumerism which has lead to economic poverty, and increase

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A ‘commodity sign’ invests symbolic meaning in products or services as a signifier with an image as signified. In recent times, consumer culture is driven by our desire for superfluous wants, causing the production and consumption of commodity signs to become more specialised according to the notion of capital. Capitalism is characterised by economies that are based on open markets and the ethos of individuality over community. French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (Distinction 1984) introduced the schema of subcultural capital, which ‘confers status on its owner in the eyes of the relevant beholder’ (Thorton, 2006: 100). Therefore people have the idea that they can buy subcultural capital, as it is seen as self-revealing, in order to impress people or become someone else (Frith, 1996: 5). Thus advertising was developed as a strategy in generating demand in a contemporary consumer culture. Mass marketing has split the unity of signifiers and signified into a language of appearances and images of which we realise as either visible, physical connections or indirect connotations to that which they represent.

In this summative essay I would like to explore and analyse the influence that Graphic design has had on popular culture and consumerism. Graphic design can be defined as “the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The form of the communication can be physical or virtual, and may include images, words, or graphic forms.” (aiga.org) Designers are problem solvers and it is their job to come up with a suitable solution to a problem. They have to find the best suitable means to communicate a particular message. Graphic Designers are at the forefront of advertising and the battle of selling giving the designer even greater responsibility, because of this graphic designers play a big role in consumerism. Consumerism, “as a social and economic order and ideology encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-greater amounts.” (wikipedia.org) Society have been gradually made to believe that they can increase their happiness through buying and spending. Consumerism is an international problem, but has existed for many years, people purchasing goods that exceeded those of their basic needs dates way back to the first civilisations, in the eras of ancient Egypt and Rome. A turn in consumerism arrived just before the industrial revolution, people worked long hours and earned low wages, so they didn 't have the time or the disposable income for excess spending. The industrial revolution welcomed the use of assembly

Named after American industrialist Henry Ford, Fordism is essentially a modern socio-economic system designed on the bases of industrial mass production in the 20th century. There are many aspects of Fordism in terms of its social and economic organisation, such as the relation to production line techniques, the nature and pattern of consumption, and overall state regulation. This essay will firstly outline the three major characteristics of Fordism; the standardisation of goods produced, the synchronisation of assembly line workers, and the concept of how higher waged workers are able to afford the goods they produce. Moreover, the 21st century patterns of production,

Inequality between classes is historically rooted in sociological behaviour. Baumann and Johnston describe how amongst foodies, it was only an elite minority who took up the gourmet scene in North America prior to 1960 (5). “Consumption is, as it always has been, a socially embedded and embodied phenomenon” (Boden, 8). Consumerism and consumption now contains its own ideology, culture, and identity. The search for distinction is one of the primary drivers of contemporary consumerism and consumption. However, due to the increasing accessibility of commodities and experiences, people are not easily distinguishable. The ubiquitous question in society is “what do you do?” Or, in Pugh’s work “what do your parents do?” People attempt to fulfil specific societal positions in order to fit, which in turn causes a blurred image of one’s actual status and wealth. (For instance, the rejection of snobbery; the growing middle class; the ubiquitous search for a bargain; the modernization of roles and etiquette; the amount of choice and rapidity of change in trends; the use of credit or loans; the importance of fitting in; the ability to gain status through knowledge; and