Democracy's Third Estate
” New Deal Politics and the Construction of a “Consuming Public”
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11213670 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Meg Jacobs (Claremont McKenna College, corresponding author), Mary M Jacobs (0000-0002-1578-9863) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Pages | 27-51 |
| Publication date | 1999-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Labor and Working-Class History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0147-5479 • E-ISSN: 1471-6445 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0147547999003178 |
| OpenAlex | W2139324544 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 15 |
In the 1930s, the “consumer problem” captured the attention of American working-class leaders, consumer activists, and liberal economists. As sociologist and New Dealer Robert Lynd warned, “There is a ‘consumer problem' of national proportions and it is here to stay as a big white elephant on the doorsteps of business.” He continued: “The only way that democracy can survive, if indeed it is not now too late for it to survive at all, is through the quality of living it can help its rank and file of its citizens to achieve.” Progressive reformers feared that the modern consumer was powerless in the face of corporate market manipulation, mass technology, and the maldistribution of income. Without well-informed, independent, and financially secure consumers, their argument ran, the nation risked economic and political decline. Indeed, to many Americans, the Great Depression made clear that consumers did not possess enough purchasing power to sustain the economy. Moreover, the rise of fascist regimes in Europe suggested that poverty could in fact threaten liberal capitalism. According to this conception of economic citizenship, only powerful consumers with both economic and political clout could prevent economic ruin and civic decay.Robert Lynd, “Introduction,” in Persia Campbell, Consumer Representation in the New Deal (New York, 1940), 9–10, 23
Business · Democracy · Estate · Political science · Politics · Real estate · Finance · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Race, History, and American Society
The right to manage
Modern Corporation and Private Property
Beyond Suffrage
The Promise of American Life
Making a New Deal
The National Recovery Administration
How About Some Meat
The Rôle of the Consumer in the New Deal
The Consumer and the New Deal
The Consumer Under the National Recovery Administration
The New Relations Between Business and Government
A New Dealer in Agriculture
Democracy'S Third Estate
Housewives, Socialists, and the Politics of Food
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,27 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2024 (25) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |