Time and Money: The Making of a Consumer Culture

New mass production methods after World War I intensified the debate over the allocation of growth in the advanced industrial societies, resulting eventually in a new balance of production and consumption as the routine of the 40 hour week and the annual holiday became the norm. Gary Cross provides a comparative and wide-ranging historical analysis of the work-and-spend ethic, exploring American, British and French patterns of organizing free time. Covering the emergence of a consumer society in the 1920s and 30s, through the mass consumerism of the 1950s to trends in the present day, he provides a new perspective on the history of consumerism by placing contemporary dilemmas and responses to the question of `time and money' in their historical context. He links the modern culture of consumerism with trends in work, leisure, cultural politics and political economy to create a subtle analysis of complex social phenomena.