Consumer Survival during the Great Depression: Reports from the Field

Abstract

This article reconstructs consumers' experiences during the Great Depression, using observations of their behavior as preserved in archival reports. Where possible, archival photographs were collected to provide supportive visual documentation of particular aspects of consumption. The four themes resulting from the analysis of these data are (1) the effect of a lack of employment opportunities and protection on depression-era consumption, (2) deterioration of living accommodations and goods needed to sustain life and health, (3) return to self-sufficient modes of production, and (4) collective/communal action. Broader implications for marketers are discussed. We still pray to be given each day our daily bread. Yet there is too much bread, too much wheat and corn, meat and oil and almost every other commodity required by man for his subsistence and material happiness. We are not able to purchase the abundance that modern methods of agriculture, mining and manufacture make available in such bountiful quantities. Why is mankind being asked to go hungry and cold and poverty stricken in the midst of plenty?

Social Consequences of Nascent Markets: Emergence and Growth of Begging in 1859-1880 Denver

“…The constant comparative method was used for analysis, e.g. Belk (1992) and Hill, Hirschman, and Bauman (1997). Newspaper data was closely-read/examined repeatedly until distinct, thematically-stable categories emerged, see Glaser and Strauss (1967); Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014).…”

“…The 19th-century’s extreme capitalism, based on precarious labor conditions, compounded the risk of indigence: Workers lacked officially-established maximum hours, minimum wages, safety conditions, health/life insurance, and pension plans (Hill, Hirschman, and Bauman 1997). If workers were injured or aged, and thereby became unable to meet labor demands, they often had no other means for sustenance than to beg.…”

A brief history of frugality discourses in the United States

“…With wages down and unemployment rates averaging 17.9% between 1930 and 1940, many people were forced to greatly lower their material expectations and to scrimp wherever they could (Hill, Hirschman, and Bauman 1997). Although the 1930s saw increases in the percentage of US households with inside flush toilets and electric lighting and appliances, many families still lacked a modern consumer infrastructure.…”

Macromarketing: Past, Present, and Possible Future

“…For instance, trade may be problematic if it includes arms, slaves, sex tourism, endangered or exotic animals, child labor, or environmentally harmful items (Cornwell and Drennan 2004;. Marketing may also add to, cater to, or highlight disparities or concentrations of wealth and benefits in and among societies (Dixon and Polyakov 1997;Duhaime, McTavish, and Ross 1985;Hill, Hirschman, and Bauman 1997;Hosley and Wee 1988). Moreover, marketers, citizens, or public officials in some nations may object to what they see as the corrupt or abhorrent practices and offerings that marketing activity requires or induces (Alon 2004;Belk and Groves 1999;Eckhardt and Mahi 2004).…”