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Technology and Culture 45.2 (2004) 454-455



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A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption. By Lizabeth Cohen. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Pp. 567. $32.50.

This book has nothing to say directly about the relationship between technology and culture . . . but it has everything to do with modern America's technology and culture. American abundance has never before been as pronounced—or as indulged—as it has been in the past fifty years. It comes as no surprise that mass consumption requires complex systems of production, transportation, distribution, advertising, and waste disposal. What is equally intriguing is how this complex constellation of technologically sophisticated systems is held together culturally and politically. A Consumer's Republic deals with the underlying social and cultural formations that nurture the political and administrative policies that promote mass consumption.

Lizbeth Cohen delves creatively into the relationship between mass consumerism and the body politic: "[I]n the aftermath of World War II a fundamental shift in America's economy, politics, and culture took place, with major consequences for how Americans made a living, where they dwelled, how they interacted with others, what and how they consumed, what they expected of government" (p. 8). She identifies a chronological sequence of ideal types that she believes characterize the political economy of specific eras. "Citizen consumers" of the New Deal and World War II used consumer power for explicitly political ends, frequently focusing on general welfare. "Purchaser citizens" of the late 1930s and 1940s, on the other hand, concentrated on personal self-interest as the motor of social good. In the postwar era a "purchaser as citizen" ideal creatively combined personal satisfaction with patriotism because, the argument ran, consumerism energized the economy, illustrated social mobility, and demonstrated American superiority on the international scene. In the 1980s and 1990s, the consumer ideal explicitly expanded into the political realm as the "consumer/citizen/taxpayer/voter" came to view government policies and political options as simply more consumer choices. Instead of a democratic republic, postwar Americans have come to pay allegiance to a "consumers' republic."

Reconversion from World War II military production set the stage for the consumer's republic. The GI Bill, revised tax codes, vastly expanded consumer credit in automobiles, homes, and consumer durables, and an [End Page 454] unfettered acquisitiveness born of wartime deprivations led to the obvious conclusion that spending money was more patriotic than saving it. Participating in that spending spree was not just patriotic in the sense of promoting economic growth, it was downright egalitarian and democratic. Best of all, it demonstrated that all but the most marginal members of society could enjoy the fruits of capitalist production. The ideological goal of this campaign was to ensure that the economy was constantly expanding in order to thwart proposals for any redistribution of the fruit.

Concentrating on housing, roads, schools, shopping centers, and tax policies, Cohen deftly reconstructs the growth and social stratification of postwar suburbs in fascinating detail. The suburbs were the foci of growing mass consumption, and their creation is one of the signal achievements of the postwar era. As Cohen makes crystal clear, this creation involved a series of interrelated actions that involved public planners in coordinating new technological systems (like freeways) with new consumer opportunities (like shopping centers). Social policies regarding educational and housing opportunities disadvantaged urban dwellers, often ethnic and racial minorities, and reinforced the segmentation of society. Often, but not always, it was the clear intention of planners to ensure the segregation that promoted suburban growth and prosperity.

Marketers capitalized on racial and class differences by segmenting consumers and promoting goods that reinforced the differentiation of social groups. From this, it was a short leap for consultants to offer political choices tailored to specific segments. The rise of identity politics, the emphasis on personal choices, and the decline of electoral participation are linked by their connection to the segmentation of the body politic. The book is strongest here, weakest when Cohen tries to squeeze the Civil Rights Movement into yet another consumer revolt. A Consumer's Republic...

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