Rise of American Consumerism and Advertising as a Result of the Industrial Revolution During the Guilded Age (1877-1920)

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Date : 2750 /9

Introduction

The focal point of the is to evaluate and analyze the rise of American consumerism and advertising as a result of the industrial revolution during the Gilded Age (1877-1920 . This was a revolution that depended on several variables including the effects related to the elements of immigration , the industrial revolution , and technology combine led to urbanization and the rise of big businesses followed by consumerism and advertising that changed America socially , politically and economically forever

Argument

During

this age , America increased its productivity such that it surpassed that of Germany , Great Britain and France combined . The railroad opened up the area for commercial farming , coal mining and also steel production . In to reduce the cost of production , there was the invention of mechanization . There was also an increase in the number of skilled and unskilled workers in machine shops , which , meant that more machines were made and sold . The wage rates increased leading to the people having more money kept aside that were used to start off small businesses . This led to the growth of a middle class and thus the need for them to display their wealth in to compete or put themselves at par with the upper class . According to Lamb this was the foundation stone of the middle class mechanism in the social context The increase in machine shops and industries meant that many people were producing the same thing and thus the need to advertise their wares . The people had money to use for their needs and also to waste in the attempt to show off their wealth . Consumerism means the likening of individual happiness and satisfaction to the purchasing and consumption of material possessions . In the gilded age , there was a lot of self-indulgence in the display of wealth . All the industries had to do was advertise their wares to the Americans who were in turn ready and willing to spend their money on material possessions that would be used to exhibit their social class and wealth

During this period the upper class had emerged as a result of the increased industrialization that led to the presence of a differentiated society . In the society there was now the presence of a working class and that of the entrepreneurs who owned the wealth . Although this was still age that saw the rise of philanthropy , which was started by Andrew Carnegie , it was still the age that exhibited a lot of wastage in the process of displaying the wealth that people owned

The Gilded Age happened in the era that America was rapidly moving from an agricultural society to an urban and industrialized society . This was still age that saw the rise of philanthropy , which was started by Andrew Carnegie it was still the age that exhibited a lot of wastage in the process of displaying the wealth that people owned

There was a lot of rural urban immigration of young people who went to the...