Pells, Richard H. Radical Visions and American Dreams; Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Argument
Pells is sensitive to the inherently conservative argument below the surface of much of radical culture in the 1930s. As much as they called for social change in America, even the radicals resisted the overthrow of American ideals.
Ultimately, their committment to America in WWII, and the associated refigured American Dream, the intellectuals "were laying the foundations for their own postwar emergence as a privileged elite, the tough-minded tacticians of anti-Communist diplomacy, the indispensable experts in a managerial society... the well adjusted servants of the modern state." (361-2)
Nitty-Gritty
"Progressivism represented the first response of the 20th century to those transformations in industry, technology, labor, communications, and urban living which threatened to obliterate nineteenth century America." (9) Planning, efficiency, and expertise to deal with disorder and the consequences of rapid growth.
Progressive legacy in 30s - attempts to duplicate in form if not substance: intellectuals have a role in shaping the nation and fixing problems
1920s - Left fares poorly in time of middle class prosperity and individualism
Artists moved into exile within boehmian communities in the city, or to Europe.
Crash of 1929 -Initially, most accepted explanation that this was a temporary adjustment, and so attitudes and behavior remained the same for about a year.
Chapter II Political and Economic Thought, 1929-35 - Debate over a continued faith in the liberal state or a more radical refiguring of America. Those disenchanted with traditional reform increasingly looked to Russia as a potential model. However, Pells notes the idealization of Russia came uncritically; thus, "the attack on liberalism and the parallel attraction to the Soviet Union often ended not in a conversion to radical theory but rather in a commitment to special forms of culture and myth." (68)
Election of 1932 - Intellectuals didn't think FDR offered a radical change to the US that was needed to fix the situation, but the masses elected the only viable non-Hoover candidate. But once the New Deal was unveiled in the first 100 days, most observers sensed that it truly was a social revolution. Eventually, though, many concluded that Roosevelt was merely preserving the economic system in a time of scarcity rather than actually offering a radical solution. The intellectuals on the left remained committed to a socialist perspective.
Chapter III - Search for Community - Intellectuals (specifically John Dewey, Lewis Mumford, Robert Lynd, Sidney Hook, and Reinhold Niebuhr) accepted the collectivization of American life into a mass society, and realized that required a redefinition of the American Dream. They failed to fashion a new ideology, but laid the groundwork for later thought by combining traditional liberalism, new socialism, and moral passion. Thus, they joined seemingly contradictory ideas, liberalism and Marxism, morality and politics, private thought and collective action, individual freedom and search for community, critique of industrialism and analysis of capitalism, desire for psychologcally satisfying myths an the need for a coherent social theory. (148-50)
Chapter IV - Literary Theory and the Role of the Intellectual - Writers on all sides of the political spectrum turned back to an engagement with public issues. In the case of some socialist writers, this became a critique of bohemian irresponsibility of the 1920s and a call toward universal brotherhood and cultural solidarity; Pells notes this call has an inherently conservative underbelly. Others began to search for and celebrate proletarian literature (Denning) to serve both the needs of the masses and the intelligentsia. Still others insisted that literature remain separate from politics and class struggle in order to secure its cultural value in the midst of collapse (the goal of both sides - it was the means that differed).
Chapter V - Documentaries, Fiction, and the Depression - Most of the creative artists did not follow the intellectual community, and (except James Agee's articles on Deep South tenant farmers for Fortune) avoided fusing radicalism with art. Literature was abandoned by some in favor of the seemingly more effectual journalism and documentary. Other writers made radicalism second to more traditional values: ex. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath favors patience over revolution, tradition over social change. Major themes included: remembrance of the past, coming of the apocalypse, and the survival of the self (hard-boiled detective remaining himself even as he solves a crime).
Chapter VI - The Radical Stage and the Hollywood Film in the 1930s - The Workers' Theater briefly held the promise of reform through the stage, but ultimately radical theater gave way to more conventional, sentimental plays at the end of the decade. Radical theater failed to invent new styles, and social significance lost its appropriateness and thus failed to draw an audience. Orson Welles' experimentation culminated in his masterpiece, Citizen Kane, but like other radical artists, Welles was offering an uncomfortable view of the world at a time (late 1930s) when Americans were yearning for tranquil and routine.
Chapter VII - The Decline of Radicalism, 1935-1939 - From high hopes, this period saw a retreat from the creativity of art and revolutionary-ness of thought. The decline is most visible in the history of the communist party which joined a common front against reaction (exemplified by Nazi Germany) rather than continuing to pursue their own objectives. Liberals, meanwhile, internalized the New Deal's message of the role of leadership (gov't) to help the masses. Overall, intellectuals sensed the moment for change had passed, and, while more moderate writers like Gilbert Seldes celebrated FDR as an American hero, the left felt a sense of the inevitability of disaster in the approaching war.
Chapter VIII - From Depression to War - The Popular Front and the rest of the intellectual left fragmented at the end of the decade, only to coalesce in a broader alliance in the crusade against Hitler, which would morph after 1945 into a defense of the US in the Cold War.
Connections
This book is most similar to Denning's Cultural Front. Pells is discussing the intellectual elite on the left, while Denning is stressing the participation through culture of the labor class along with intellectuals and artists.
Pells also overlaps with McCarraher's Christian Critics, discussing their role and interaction with their more secular counterparts. McCarraher probably does this a bit more delicately, but the varied perspective is interesting.
Why was the New Left of the 1960s a student movement? McCarraher explains why it wasn't a student movement. Pells, as well as Isserman, demonstrate why it arose from young thinkers rather than veterans of the 1930s.
Critique
I'm pushing my reading pace now, but this book is one I wish I could spend more time with and might have to come back and look at in the future, if I ever happen to be in a bank vault as an H-bomb blows civilization to kingdom come, leaving me all alone with time...time enough at last. I just have to make sure I keep plenty of sets of contact lenses.
Showing posts with label 1930s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1930s. Show all posts
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Marchand - Advertising the American Dream
Marchand, Roland. Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Argument
In the 1920s and 30s the advertising industry in America boomed. Marchand studies advertisements from the period (and the men who created them) in an attempt to understand what they can (and can't) tell us about American society as a whole. The title indicates two key parts to Marchand's argument. First, he credits advertising as playing a key role in shaping American consumer values that would resonate with the middle class after World War II. Second, he argues advertising men (and they were mostly affluent white men) saw themselves as serving society by advancing the benefits of modernity.
Key Terms
Modernity - Essentially, "progress;" advertisers saw themselves as "town criers" for new technology, styles, and ways of life. (1) Marchand also notes the heavy influence of modern art on advertising design.
Uplift - Recognizing that the masses of consumers to which they were advertising occupied a lower status on the socio-cultural-intellectual scale than they, some members of the advertising elite saw their role as affecting improvement among the American masses on these terms. Skilled advertisers could find a way to communicate with the ignorant masses and offer them products and services that might improve their life and, in the long run, improve their minds.
Social Tableau - a category of advertisements that depict several persons and their relationship to each other, thus offering a glimpse of the perceived social structure.
Studying Advertising to Understand Society as a Whole
The careful yet nonetheless evocative ways Marchand used advertising as sources was interesting for my own desire to use film and television as sources. The social tableau chapter was one example.
He also identified several "great parables" used as a formula for many advertisements. Marchand argues these parables "reinforced (and even encouraged conversions to) a modern, secular 'logic of living'..." (207). They "subtly redefin[ed] the terms of [the American dream]" as "the older values of discipline, character-building, self-restraint, and production-oriented achievement were subordinated to the newer values of pleasure, external appearance, and achievement through consumption." (234) Thus, advertising played an important role not only reflecting but inspiring the shift in American values of the 20th century. In the final chapter, Marchand goes on to show how by the end of the period advertising methods were firmly engaged in offering therapeutic solutions to the dilemmas of modern life.
Marchand also identifies several common cliches in advertising, such as "the office window" portraying the male CEO surveying his domain and "the family circle" demonstrating the relationship between father, mother, and children. He suggests such cliches can be useful in understanding values of the age.
He also explore depression era developments in advertising, revealing shifting tactics. Advertisers strove to emphasize the equalizing power of consumerism, as well as the dangers of ill-advised purchasing decisions.
The Morgan Memorial "Deja Vu - You've Seen this Before"
Cohen-Consumer's Republic - This is something of a prequel to Cohen with a more specific focus. Advertisers in the 20s and 30s were laying the groundwork and fighting for the shift to a "Consumer's Republic" of purchaser consumers who saw their buying power as a way to self-improvement rather than community- or national- improvement. According to Marchand, advertisers painted a picture of consumption as the secret to individual and family happiness relative to individuals and families around them, rather than consumption as a way to improve the wealth of the nation as a whole.
Critique
Well-written, clear and interesting. Marchand was also able to include numerous black-and-white and color examples throughout the pages that really drive his point home. His chapters are nicely organized and accessible. His methods are clear and his argument is well-made.
Argument
In the 1920s and 30s the advertising industry in America boomed. Marchand studies advertisements from the period (and the men who created them) in an attempt to understand what they can (and can't) tell us about American society as a whole. The title indicates two key parts to Marchand's argument. First, he credits advertising as playing a key role in shaping American consumer values that would resonate with the middle class after World War II. Second, he argues advertising men (and they were mostly affluent white men) saw themselves as serving society by advancing the benefits of modernity.
Key Terms
Modernity - Essentially, "progress;" advertisers saw themselves as "town criers" for new technology, styles, and ways of life. (1) Marchand also notes the heavy influence of modern art on advertising design.
Uplift - Recognizing that the masses of consumers to which they were advertising occupied a lower status on the socio-cultural-intellectual scale than they, some members of the advertising elite saw their role as affecting improvement among the American masses on these terms. Skilled advertisers could find a way to communicate with the ignorant masses and offer them products and services that might improve their life and, in the long run, improve their minds.
Social Tableau - a category of advertisements that depict several persons and their relationship to each other, thus offering a glimpse of the perceived social structure.
Studying Advertising to Understand Society as a Whole
The careful yet nonetheless evocative ways Marchand used advertising as sources was interesting for my own desire to use film and television as sources. The social tableau chapter was one example.
He also identified several "great parables" used as a formula for many advertisements. Marchand argues these parables "reinforced (and even encouraged conversions to) a modern, secular 'logic of living'..." (207). They "subtly redefin[ed] the terms of [the American dream]" as "the older values of discipline, character-building, self-restraint, and production-oriented achievement were subordinated to the newer values of pleasure, external appearance, and achievement through consumption." (234) Thus, advertising played an important role not only reflecting but inspiring the shift in American values of the 20th century. In the final chapter, Marchand goes on to show how by the end of the period advertising methods were firmly engaged in offering therapeutic solutions to the dilemmas of modern life.
Marchand also identifies several common cliches in advertising, such as "the office window" portraying the male CEO surveying his domain and "the family circle" demonstrating the relationship between father, mother, and children. He suggests such cliches can be useful in understanding values of the age.
He also explore depression era developments in advertising, revealing shifting tactics. Advertisers strove to emphasize the equalizing power of consumerism, as well as the dangers of ill-advised purchasing decisions.
The Morgan Memorial "Deja Vu - You've Seen this Before"
Cohen-Consumer's Republic - This is something of a prequel to Cohen with a more specific focus. Advertisers in the 20s and 30s were laying the groundwork and fighting for the shift to a "Consumer's Republic" of purchaser consumers who saw their buying power as a way to self-improvement rather than community- or national- improvement. According to Marchand, advertisers painted a picture of consumption as the secret to individual and family happiness relative to individuals and families around them, rather than consumption as a way to improve the wealth of the nation as a whole.
Critique
Well-written, clear and interesting. Marchand was also able to include numerous black-and-white and color examples throughout the pages that really drive his point home. His chapters are nicely organized and accessible. His methods are clear and his argument is well-made.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Denning - The Cultural Front
Denning, Michael. The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century. The Haymarket series. London: Verso, 1996.
Argument/Key terms
The period from the Sacco-Venzetti execution (1927) and the Crash of 1929 to the Cold War blacklisting and McCarthyism is best described as the Age of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) because for the first time the left had a significant effect on American culture and society as a whole. The Cultural Front describes Denning's argument: that intellectuals, artists, and lower class workers were united - or at least connected - in a conscious efforts to shape society through mass culture. This period thus saw a "laboring" of American culture, as not only did culture begin to reflect lower class interests, but the lower classes themselves became active participants in the creation, performance, and consumption of culture. (xvi-xvii)
Historiographic Importance
Denning refutes the common-held belief that the Popular Front was made up of the Communist Party at its core with other sympathetic participants on the periphery ("fellow travelers"). Instead, he argues party membership was much more fluid and the specific ideologies of the Popular Front were much more varied than the core-periphery model might suggest. He thus proposes that the Popular Front be viewed as a historical bloc, with a base in industrial unions.
Taking issue with the New York school's claim that the Popular Front was an utter failure because of its central Communism, he also attempts to demonstrate both the contribution to American culture made during the period and the lasting influence of these works after 1948 (eventually inspiring the New Left of the 60s).
Key Examples
Ch. 4 Dos Passos's USA - Didn't have the lasting influence of contemporary works of fiction because it was so rooted in the time. Triology tells of the decline of the Lincoln Republic. Unites history, fiction, and memoir through four types of writing - Newsreels (unauthored accounts of historical events), Camera Eyes (autobiographical accounts of Dos Passos own experiences), biographical portraits (of real figures, and fictional narratives about 12 disconnected characters.
Ch. 6 Ghetto Pastorals - Importance of ghetto as setting for immigrant lower class tales.
Ch.7 Grapes of Wrath - Most successful of numerous migrant worker texts. Elevated the Okie migration despite the existence of other examples of migrant workers at that moment, primarily because Okies were white. Denning discusses other less well-known migrant worker stories about non-whites (Mexicans, Chinese, blacks)
Ch. 8 Popular Front Musical Theater - Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock is an allegory of the middle class eforts to usurp the power of labor unions. Harold Rome's Pins and Needles was a musical revue which had a success that has confounded Broadway historians. Most write it off as appealing through its political consciousness, but Denning argues that the songs about working-class romance are what made it successful. The cast was made up of New York laborers - amateur performers (until the show became increasingly popular). Anti-fascist sketches.
Ch. 9 Caberet Blues - Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington (discussed in Ch. 8) were thought in retrospect to not be particularly politically conscious (and often claimed as such after 1948), but Denning shows they are underestimated.
Ch. 10 Orson Welles - Denning argues Anti-Fascism was the core ideology of Welles' work from Julius Caesar to War of the Worlds to Citizen Kane.
Ch. 11 The Disney strike of 1941 - breaking Disney's paternalism
Critique
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, the case studies are interesting, in-depth, and often engrossing. The overall conclusions seem, historiographically, significant. However, great portions of the book were a real slog. Denning often repeats himself. I had a strong sense that the text could have been at least 100 pages smaller to the same effect. He often quoted secondary sources that agreed with his points. He also freqently uses long lists of names. Whole paragraphs are dedicated to listing examples. Those kinds of things, it seems to me, could either be edited out or stuck in a footnote. (This uses endnotes.)
Argument/Key terms
The period from the Sacco-Venzetti execution (1927) and the Crash of 1929 to the Cold War blacklisting and McCarthyism is best described as the Age of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) because for the first time the left had a significant effect on American culture and society as a whole. The Cultural Front describes Denning's argument: that intellectuals, artists, and lower class workers were united - or at least connected - in a conscious efforts to shape society through mass culture. This period thus saw a "laboring" of American culture, as not only did culture begin to reflect lower class interests, but the lower classes themselves became active participants in the creation, performance, and consumption of culture. (xvi-xvii)
Historiographic Importance
Denning refutes the common-held belief that the Popular Front was made up of the Communist Party at its core with other sympathetic participants on the periphery ("fellow travelers"). Instead, he argues party membership was much more fluid and the specific ideologies of the Popular Front were much more varied than the core-periphery model might suggest. He thus proposes that the Popular Front be viewed as a historical bloc, with a base in industrial unions.
Taking issue with the New York school's claim that the Popular Front was an utter failure because of its central Communism, he also attempts to demonstrate both the contribution to American culture made during the period and the lasting influence of these works after 1948 (eventually inspiring the New Left of the 60s).
Key Examples
Ch. 4 Dos Passos's USA - Didn't have the lasting influence of contemporary works of fiction because it was so rooted in the time. Triology tells of the decline of the Lincoln Republic. Unites history, fiction, and memoir through four types of writing - Newsreels (unauthored accounts of historical events), Camera Eyes (autobiographical accounts of Dos Passos own experiences), biographical portraits (of real figures, and fictional narratives about 12 disconnected characters.
Ch. 6 Ghetto Pastorals - Importance of ghetto as setting for immigrant lower class tales.
Ch.7 Grapes of Wrath - Most successful of numerous migrant worker texts. Elevated the Okie migration despite the existence of other examples of migrant workers at that moment, primarily because Okies were white. Denning discusses other less well-known migrant worker stories about non-whites (Mexicans, Chinese, blacks)
Ch. 8 Popular Front Musical Theater - Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock is an allegory of the middle class eforts to usurp the power of labor unions. Harold Rome's Pins and Needles was a musical revue which had a success that has confounded Broadway historians. Most write it off as appealing through its political consciousness, but Denning argues that the songs about working-class romance are what made it successful. The cast was made up of New York laborers - amateur performers (until the show became increasingly popular). Anti-fascist sketches.
Ch. 9 Caberet Blues - Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington (discussed in Ch. 8) were thought in retrospect to not be particularly politically conscious (and often claimed as such after 1948), but Denning shows they are underestimated.
Ch. 10 Orson Welles - Denning argues Anti-Fascism was the core ideology of Welles' work from Julius Caesar to War of the Worlds to Citizen Kane.
Ch. 11 The Disney strike of 1941 - breaking Disney's paternalism
Critique
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, the case studies are interesting, in-depth, and often engrossing. The overall conclusions seem, historiographically, significant. However, great portions of the book were a real slog. Denning often repeats himself. I had a strong sense that the text could have been at least 100 pages smaller to the same effect. He often quoted secondary sources that agreed with his points. He also freqently uses long lists of names. Whole paragraphs are dedicated to listing examples. Those kinds of things, it seems to me, could either be edited out or stuck in a footnote. (This uses endnotes.)
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