From Rags to Riches: The Birth of Mass Culture

Michael Anderson

Mrs. Baker

Literature Analysis and Composition 11

17 February 2017
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Michael Anderson

Mrs. Baker

Literature Analysis and Composition 11

17 February 2017

From Rags to Riches: The Birth of Mass Culture

Before the 1920s, the United States was living in a simpler time. During the 1920s,

though, that all changed in a huge way because of one thing: the birth of mass culture. The birth

of mass culture was characterized by urbanization and modernization, was known for new forms

of mass media, advertisements, and fashion, and is connected to the 1920s through the good and

bad times it brought.

In the mass culture movement, the United States changed from an agricultural society to

a manufacturing society. It was a movement in the 1920s that could be characterized by two

main things: the urbanization and modernization of the United States. The urbanization, or

population shift from rural to urban areas of the United States, was a big part of the birth of mass

culture. In William Blackfords book, Business Enterprise in American History, he says,

Increasing urbanization brought a complementary and concurrent increase in the importance of

manufacturing in the American Economy (Rise). Urbanization brought more manufacturing,

and more manufacturing brought modernization. Modernization was the new material things that

came about in this decade. The University of Art in London stated that, During the 1920s, many

Americans had extra money to spend, and they spent it on home appliances like electric

refrigerators and radios (Birth). New products that were made helped make chores easier and

gave people more time for leisure.

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The most important and most intriguing elements of this era were mass media, the

evolution of advertising, and fashion. The radio was one of the most important inventions of the

1920s because it opened so many new opportunities. It gave many people something to do for

fun at home after the long, hard work day. Once more, according to University of Art in London,

By the end of the 1920s, there were radios in more than 12 million households (Birth). The

radio gave marketing experts a new media to advertise through, and helped advertising evolve

into a more complex strategy. William Blackford also said, During the 1920s while marketing

was emerging as a conscious business strategy, advertising matured as an important industry

(Blackford). New advertisements were streamed through the radio and grew in harmony with the

emerging industries of mass culture. Lastly, fashion was a major component of the mass culture

movement. The ideals of fashion were reinvented during this time period. Slavena Salve Nissan

said, It was an exciting time to be a woman (Nissan). Women wore new types of clothes, like

cloche hats, the looser drop-waist dress, and statement jewelry that really made the outfit.

Nissan also mentioned that, The fashion of the era [the 1920s] is a reflection of peoples

luxurious lifestyles and liberated minds (Nissan). The extra money that people obtained in this

era gave women the chance to really express themselves through their wardrobe.

The connection to the 1920s that the birth of mass culture has, is that it was the most

important movement in the 1920s because of its impact on the nation. Without the birth of mass

culture, people would all still be making their own clothes, playing pick-up sticks for fun, and

walking to and from their jobs. Although this era started with the booming economy and the new

luxuries, it ended with the great depression. People went from buying everything they wanted

and never needed to struggling to just getting the necessities they needed to survive. The mass
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culture movement changed the future of the United States, in the long run, in a good way. It gave

people the things that today are looked at as the little things that everyone has. In the end, the

birth of mass culture led to good times, which outweighed the bad for the United States.

From the modernization of new products to the new mass media, advertisements, fashion,

and even the skyrocketing stock market, the birth of mass culture was a pivotal part of the

roaring 1920s. The birth of mass culture deeply affected the United States then, and still shows

its effects today. Every time someone gets into their car and turns on their radio, they can say

thank you to the birth of mass culture because without it they would not have any of those

luxuries.
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Works Cited

The Birth of Mass Culture. University of the Arts London. spereiraazevedo.workflow.arts.ac.uk/

the-birth-of-mass-culture.

Blackford, Mansel G. Business Enterprise in America. Houghton Mifflin, 1986. Accessed from

faculty.atu.edu/cbrucker/Engl5383/Marketing.htm.

Nissan, Slavena Salve. The Influence of 1920s Fashion. The Macaulay Messenger, 5 May 2013.

macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/messenger/2013/05/05/the-influence-of-1920s-fashion/.

The Rise of Mass Culture. DISCovering U.S. History, 1997. Research in Context,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=lom=accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7C

BT2104241258&it=r&authCount=1.