In the years of post-World War 1 America, the rising popularity in consumerism and leisure activities lead to the growing image of "the American way of life." As Hollywood films portrayed, America was a place of "high wages, efficient factories, and the mass production of consumer goods," where the secret to permanent prosperity seemed to be discovered. The negative image of large corporations began to change, as did people's view of prominent businessmen and engineers. Photos and media around the country "celebrated the beauty of machines and factories" and the stock market slowly inched its way into people's lives.During this time, American citizens began to witness the rise to a new way of life, headed by the economic advancements and technological innovations during the time. Along with the proliferation and permeation of the automobiles into daily life, telephones, radios, and phonographs also took away a portion of the average American's income. The growing popularity of these inventions united the nation and allowed for an easier spread of culture and ideas.
First invented in 1879, the radio began to increase in popularity during the 1920s as improvements allowed signals to be transmitted and received with better across the nation. In 1922, the first public radio broadcasting station was opened in Pittsburgh. Because it was relatively inexpensive to purchase compared to other products, the possession of radios in an American household increased by over 25 times between the years of 1923 and 1929. People who had a radio were able to tune into information about daily news and world affairs, as well as listen to broadcastings about their favorite sports stars and enjoy recordings of music or film. Along with the rise of celebrity culture, businesses also found new avenues of advertisement through airing commercials during time slots sold to them by various stations.The spread of the radio allowed for a more unified national culture, as communication over long distances was minimized and people on both coasts could be listening to the same radio station at the same time. Athletes, actors, singers, and other celebrities spread throughout the nation through the radio and entered citizens' ears at an unbelievable pace. The nation has since then been on track to become a society dominated by media, carrying information and entertainment on demand. Such as well as the growing popularity of consumerism and individual fulfillment will lead to a new definition of American freedom and liberty in the decades to come.
Sources:
http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/radio.html
http://www.ushistory.org/us/46g.asp
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/1920s-america/a/movies-cinema-sports-1920s
I found it fascinating how in such a short time span the radio was able to take America by storm, becoming the most efficient and typical method of communication and entertainment. Before the 1920s, radios were primarily used for military or commercial use cases, especially for contacting ships out at sea. Private civilian use of the radio began with the influx of manufacture-made radios, that were pre-assembled, as most people used custom made and integrated solutions at home instead. This allowed for radios to become far more popular, and eventually cheaper over time, allowing them to become a significant mean of transmitting information across the nation.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.techwholesale.com/history-of-the-radio.html
This is an excellent blog post showing how the general American public changed their views towards corporations. Consumerism was at an all time high during this period until the infamous Great Depression. Nonetheless, massive improvements were made to make America more suitable for a consumer culture. Automobiles and other items that were previously very expensive became much cheaper under businesspeople like Henry Ford who mass produced cars to drive costs down. Overall, this period of time definitely changed how Americans spent their leisure time and their ability to buy goods.
ReplyDeleteI thought this post was very interesting as it captured many ideas about the American Dream that was also coming about in this time. This idea of moving towards a society where consumerism dominates the lives of citizens is very prominent as radios are mass produced. People can get easy access to the media and what is going on the world. I think your post relates a lot to "The Great Gatsby" which I had to recently read in english class. In this novel, the American Dream is portrayed as an endless struggle to achieve wealth and high status. This is exactly what America is dealing with in the early 1920s.
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