Educating the Consumer-citizen: A History of the Marriage of Schools, Advertising, and Media

267 Pages·2003·1.16 MB·English

by  Joel Spring

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A History of the Marriage
of Schools, Advertising, and Media
EDUCATING THE
CONSUMER-CITIZEN
A History of the Marriage
of Schools, Advertising, and Media
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Spring(cid:1)EducatingtheConsumer-Citizen:AHistoryoftheMarriageofSchools,Advertising,
andMedia
EDUCATING THE
CONSUMER-CITIZEN
A History of the Marriage
of Schools, Advertising, and Media
Joel Spring
New School University
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2003 Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright(cid:2)2003byLawrenceErlbaumAssociates,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedin
anyform,byphotostat,microform,retrievalsystem,oranyother
means,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
LawrenceErlbaumAssociates,Inc.,Publishers
10IndustrialAvenue
Mahwah,NewJersey07430
CoverdesignbyKathrynHoughtalingLacey
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Spring,JoelH.
Educatingtheconsumer-citizen:ahistoryofthemarriageofschools,advertising,
andmedia/ JoelSpring
p. cm.—(Sociocultural,political,andhistoricalstudiesineducation)
ISBN0-8058-4273-X(c:alk.paper)—ISBN0-8058-4274-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Consumerbehavior—UnitedStates—History. 2.Consumereducation—United
States—History. 5.Advertising—UnitedStates—History. 4.Massmedia—United
States—History. I.Title. II.Series.
HF5415.33.U6S67 2002
306.3—dc21 2002192790
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andtheirbindingsarechosenforstrengthanddurability.
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Contents
Preface ix
1 Horace Mann Meets the Wizard of Oz 1
Part One: Introduction and Overview of the Book 1
Consumer-Citizen and Ideology 4
Part Two: Prelude to a Consumer Society 6
Preparing a Consumer Public: Schools and Equality
of Opportunity 8
Children Read About Wealth and Its Uses 10
19th-Century Protestantism and the Environment 14
Protestantism and Urban Leisure 15
Creating a Consumer Public: Advertising and Newspapers 16
Newspapers, Post Office, Telegraph, and Advertising 18
The Wizard of Oz and the Architecture of Desiring 22
Conclusion: Development of a Consumer Society 26
2 Liberation With Jell-O and Wonder Bread: Educating
the New Woman 28
The Consumer Woman and Brand Names 28
Teaching Consumer Ideology: Home Economics 31
Prepared Food and Women’s Education 36
Wonder Bread and Jell-O: Home Economics, the New Woman,
and Social Reform 40
v
vi CONTENTS
Making up the Modern Woman 44
Placing the Product in the Woman’s Mind 47
Serving Whites: African Americans and Native Americans 49
The Irrational Consumer 50
Women’s Fashions as Artificial Obsolescence 54
Equality of Opportunity and Consumption 56
Conclusion: The Puritan and the Immigrant 58
3 Cowboys and Jocks: Visions of Manliness 62
The Crisis in Male Identity 63
Spermatic Political Economy and Patriotism 66
The Spermatic Political Economy of High School Sports 69
Sex Education 73
High School Dances and Dating: Creating a New
Consumer Market 75
Patriotism and Economic Nationalism 80
The Clean-Shaven Businessman: Advertising Images
of the New Man 84
The Cowboy Image 89
Conclusion: Rudolph Valentino and the Eroticization
of American Society 90
4 Commodification of Leisure and Cultural Control:
Schools, Movies, and Radio 95
Movies: Profit Versus Moral Instruction 97
Educators and Movies: Competition or Consumer Item 101
Markets, Financing, and the Content of Movies 102
Educators, Youth, and the Movies 105
Movies and the Sexual Revolution 108
Making Movies Safe 110
The Triumph of Advertising: Commercial Radio 114
Consumerism, Crime, and Violence on Children’s Radio 118
Making Commodified Leisure Safe for Americans 121
Conclusion: Controlling Commodified Leisure 123
5 The American Way and the Manufacturing of Consent 125
Selling the “American Way” in Schools and on Billboards 126
Propaganda and Free Speech in Schools 128
Protecting Advertising and Linking Free Enterprise
to Democracy 130
Rugg and Consumerism 133
Educating the Consumer-Citizen 135
The War of Economic Systems 136
Civic Consumerism: The New Teenage Culture 139
CONTENTS vii
The American Way: TV and Comic Book Codes 141
Textbooks and the Consumer Family 146
The Male Warrior Protects the American Way 147
Trapped in Textbook and Consumer Town: Women
and the Lack of Independent Media Images 150
Conclusion: The American Way 151
6 Participating in the American Dream 154
The Coloring of Textbook Town 154
Beauty in the Public Mind 159
Integrating Consumer Markets: African-American Sport Stars
Replace White Cowboys 160
Making Shopping Masculine 163
Liberating the Textbook Town Housewife
for More Consumption 164
Movies and the Racial Integration of Capitalism 166
Adding Color to TV 168
The Underclass and Big Bird: The Growth of a
Common Media and Consumer Experience 174
Conclusion: All People Can Consume 181
7 Sonya’s Choice: Fast-Food Education 182
Educating for Consumption 183
Textbooks: Environmentalism as the New Enemy 184
Consumer Education 185
Schooling Creates a Global Teen Market 188
The Seduction of Childhood 193
Memories and Critical History 200
Fast-Food Education 201
Conclusion: Getting Coca-Cola Into the Classroom 206
Notes 209
Author Index 236
Subject Index 241

Preface
Consumerism is the dominant American ideology of the 21st century.
“Shop’tilyoudrop”istheclarioncallofourage.Thetriumphofconsum-
erismwasmadepossiblebytherelatedactionsofschools,advertising,and
media. This book illustrates the history of that joint endeavor to create a
consumeristideologyandensureitscentralplaceinAmericanlife.Likeany
history, this story is not a straight line from one time period to another.
There was no master plan or conspiracy. However, through the twists,
turns,andcontradictionsoflife,consumerismnowrulestheAmericaneco-
nomic system and society.
I begin this history in chapter 1 by defining consumerist ideology and con-
sumer-citizenanddiscussingtheir19th-centuryoriginsinschools,children’s
literature, commercialization of American cities, advertising, newspapers,
anddevelopmentofdepartmentstores.Inchapter2,Iexaminethedevel-
opmentofthehomeeconomicsprofessionanditsimpactontheeducation
ofwomenasconsumersandthecreationofanAmericancuisinetypifiedby
Jell-O and Wonder Bread in home economics courses, school cafeterias,
hospitals, and the food industry. The new professions of advertising and
homeeconomicscreatedpublicimagesofthenewwomanasaconsumer.
Inchapter3,IdiscussthecrisisinWhitemaleidentityinthelate19thand
early 20th centuries and its resolution in male identification with profes-
sionalsports,highschoolsports,cowboyimages,andadvertisingimagesof
the clean-shaven businessman. In this chapter, I also trace how a teenage
consumermarketwascreatedwhenthehighschoolbecameamassinstitu-
tionandattemptedtocontrolmalesexualitythroughsports,sexeducation
courses, and ritualized dating practices.
ix