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Consumer Survival during the Great Depression: Reports from the Field

1997; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/027614679701700110

1552-6534

Ronald Paul Hill, Elizabeth C. Hirschman, John F. Bauman,

Culinary Culture and Tourism

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?