Consumerism In The Nineteenth Century
The nineteenth century is marked with many advances, particularly in the realm of industrial growth. Great Britain was the first country to begin its industrialization process in the late eighteenth century where it has since grown steadily with the gradual introduction of new technologies. This industrial growth led to social and demographic changes that started to rapidly increase during the Second Industrial Revolution during the later years of the nineteenth century. With the large increase in the demand for workers in the factories, along with middle-class business owners, the sizes of cities grew and with them came the demand for necessities to survive. The aspect that this paper will note is the reasoning behind the increase of consumerism and product demand. Previously, imports and many manufactured goods were reserved for the wealthy classes because of the limited resources and lack of sufficient technologies that were available. However, with the introduction of improved transportation and machinery, it made more foreign goods available to a larger audience due to the resulting deflation of
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prices. Evidence of a growing consumer age in Great Britain during the 19th and 20th centuries can be found through the results of industrial growth.
The Second Industrial Revolution, noted by the year 1870, and often referred to as the Technological Revolution, redefined production. One mechanical improvement was the introduction of Alfred Holt’s compound steam engine in 1862 and later, the Parson’s steam engine in the 1890s for transport ships. Compared to their predecessors, the regular steam engine, it was more efficient when it came to burning coal and was able to carry more goods from outside the continent. This was particularly important to Great Britain because of the large amount of international trade that was done through her colonies in Indochina, Africa, and the Americas. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Great Britain dominated trans-Atlantic trade and forced American ships to the coastal waters. Because of England’s small geographical size and limited amounts of raw materials, it was an economic necessity for the country to import many of its resources to help fuel its industry. Richard Tames states that “Shipping became one of the [English] nation’s greatest service industries, contributing over £100,000,000 per annum towards invisible exports by the turn of the [twentieth] century.” This advancement in transportation proved useful in providing the island nation with the resources to build a successful industrial economy. Due to the growing industry, there were demographic and societal changes happening in Europe. As previously mentioned, with the introduction of new technologies there was a decline in prices and an increase of factories. The building of factories led to the growth of cities because of the demand for workers to run the manufacturing plants who did not wish to travel great distances to work every day and therefore established neighbourhoods surrounding the factories. With the growth of cities there became a demand for amenities for everyday life. The increased demand for shops, lawyers, doctors, and accountants led to the growth of the middle class in the new suburban areas. The middle class is often defined as a group in society who owns property, either as private or commercial land. This social class generally consisted of people who were better paid than those on the factory floors by earning over £100 per year. Therefore, by having an influx of better paid people arriving in cities, there was also an increase of disposable income.
However, the middle class, despite its growth, still made up for a small percentage of the urban population and was not entirely responsible for the economic growth of cities. The working class was still a majority in most places due to the high demand for laborers. Many came to the cities from the rural regions in search for better paying jobs and opportunities. Unfortunately, business owners wanted to remain competitive by keeping production costs as low as possible. In order to do so, industrial wages were meager in comparison to the long hours and poor conditions that employees were subjected to. In protest, many labour and trade unions were formed to advocate for better pay, better working hours, and insurance programs. Previously, the average working week in England was around seventy hours, and the average pay, at least in the textile industries, were based off of how many pieces were manufactured. There was also the introduction of unemployment insurance as part of the 1911 National Insurance Act which protected workers if they became injured or sick to the point they could not work. By creating a financial cushion for families to rely on rather than the little bit of savings they had acquired in case of injury and sickness, this allowed for a little bit more financial freedom among the laboring classes. The trade unions formed in industrial workplaces contributed to the growth of consumerism because it introduced a new audience into the production market.
Another demographic change that should be noted is number of births per family.
Advances in science and overall improved health led to less infant deaths which prompted more families to hold off on new births. In many urban homes, both amongst the working and middle-classes, there was a decrease in this statistic because by having fewer children to support, a family could have a better standard of living. In England and Wales the average number of children per marriage dropped from 6.16 in 1861 to 3.30 by 1900, almost in half. Another factor was the Education Acts of 1870 and 1880 that made primary schooling compulsory for English youth. A good education was not cheap and therefore by having to send fewer children to school, and was a focus in many households because a good education related to being a more skilled worker, which in turn would lead to better
wages.
One of the outcomes of achieving a better employment through a better education was also to social mobility it provided. In the new industrial society, social mobility was more fluid than before, meaning that the ones social standing was not always a birthright but rather a matter of achievement. However, if one was to be considered as a member of a higher class, there was a strict set of values that had to be followed to distinguish this particular group of people from the upper, aristocratic, and lower proletariat classes. The Victorian Values of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had standards that helped promote consumerism. Men were often better dressed and had a set of work or business outfits for the daytime and a set of more elaborate dinner-wear for evening dinner parties. Similarly, women also had a standard of dress. Their outfits were identified by long, full skirts, paired with corsets and blouses, and finished off with petticoats and accessories. Some accessories were a necessity to maintain ones social standing. For example, if a woman were to leave home without a hat, she would be considered lower-class. This social rule created an obligation among the populous to go out and purchase the necessary consumer products. In addition to outfits, the homes were also under the scope of the social eye; dinner parties consisted of multiple courses of imported foods that were paired with wine or other liqueurs. Another aspect of the Victorian home was the ornate décor it contained. The home was meant to create a sanctuary from the working world while demonstrating a degree of ornateness for guests. A combination of these symbols demonstrated the financial prosperity that the working class did not have, therefore contributing to the distinguishing line between the two social groups and the obligation to keep up appearances.
The increased demand of consumer goods for the family and home that came with the growing bourgeois class resulted in the creation of the department stores. These large buildings had a dual purpose in the 19th century society, not only were they respectful places for non-working women to visit, but they also provided a wide variety of products in one place. These purposes worked off of each other, because when the higher middle and upper class women needed out of the home, the department store offered them an attractive haven that fell within the ethics of the Victorian values, therefore creating repeat customers who would be consistently exposed to the colorful displays of new fashions and products throughout the building. In addition to serving the wealthier classes, these shops would employ young women to work on the sales floor. This tactic was beneficial for two reasons; the first being that it contributed to another group of wage earners who would participate in the economy, and because they were considered to be cleaner than men and more relatable to the domestic sphere.
However, as previously mentioned, the wealthier classes still made up only a small portion of the population which is a number that early department stores reflected. In Europe, department stores only took over two percent of the market urban areas due to their small audience. It was the introduction of the American inspired “dime store” that helped attract the working, and more frugal, middle class into the consumer market. Dime stores were more frequently located in the urban areas, whereas the large elaborate department ones were usually found in the more developed neighbourhoods. The dime stores offered the basic and more practical necessities that the lower classes needed like cosmetics and basic clothing at cheaper prices, rather than the more ornate luxuries of the department stores. Indeed, the industrialization that took place around the mid nineteenth and into the early twentieth century England contributed to the growth of consumerism. The new technologies made it easier to obtain and ship resources and goods to factories and urban centers from the colonies. In addition to transportation, the mass-production of items came from a new industrial method with the introduction of the production line. The combination of obtaining and producing large amounts of goods lowered their prices and created a larger market audience that was once only restricted to the wealthy. The industrial growth also led to the demographic changes in the countries because more workers were in demand in order to run the factories and with an urban working class came the need for middle-class trades, like lawyers, shop keepers and doctors, to supply the population. The set of middle-class values during the industrializing Victorian age created a demand for more products in order for the people to maintain their social appearances. The distinguishing needs of the Victorian values defined the clothing, foods, home décor, and degree of respectability that the middle-class households were to uphold. With the introduction of the department and dime stores, it allowed for women to fulfill the necessities of their values while being able to supply their household with the needed goods to demonstrate their social standing. Without the industrial growth, the age of consumerism would have been unable to succeed in the modern world.
prices. Evidence of a growing consumer age in Great Britain during the 19th and 20th centuries can be found through the results of industrial growth.
The Second Industrial Revolution, noted by the year 1870, and often referred to as the Technological Revolution, redefined production. One mechanical improvement was the introduction of Alfred Holt’s compound steam engine in 1862 and later, the Parson’s steam engine in the 1890s for transport ships. Compared to their predecessors, the regular steam engine, it was more efficient when it came to burning coal and was able to carry more goods from outside the continent. This was particularly important to Great Britain because of the large amount of international trade that was done through her colonies in Indochina, Africa, and the Americas. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Great Britain dominated trans-Atlantic trade and forced American ships to the coastal waters. Because of England’s small geographical size and limited amounts of raw materials, it was an economic necessity for the country to import many of its resources to help fuel its industry. Richard Tames states that “Shipping became one of the [English] nation’s greatest service industries, contributing over £100,000,000 per annum towards invisible exports by the turn of the [twentieth] century.” This advancement in transportation proved useful in providing the island nation with the resources to build a successful industrial economy. Due to the growing industry, there were demographic and societal changes happening in Europe. As previously mentioned, with the introduction of new technologies there was a decline in prices and an increase of factories. The building of factories led to the growth of cities because of the demand for workers to run the manufacturing plants who did not wish to travel great distances to work every day and therefore established neighbourhoods surrounding the factories. With the growth of cities there became a demand for amenities for everyday life. The increased demand for shops, lawyers, doctors, and accountants led to the growth of the middle class in the new suburban areas. The middle class is often defined as a group in society who owns property, either as private or commercial land. This social class generally consisted of people who were better paid than those on the factory floors by earning over £100 per year. Therefore, by having an influx of better paid people arriving in cities, there was also an increase of disposable income.
However, the middle class, despite its growth, still made up for a small percentage of the urban population and was not entirely responsible for the economic growth of cities. The working class was still a majority in most places due to the high demand for laborers. Many came to the cities from the rural regions in search for better paying jobs and opportunities. Unfortunately, business owners wanted to remain competitive by keeping production costs as low as possible. In order to do so, industrial wages were meager in comparison to the long hours and poor conditions that employees were subjected to. In protest, many labour and trade unions were formed to advocate for better pay, better working hours, and insurance programs. Previously, the average working week in England was around seventy hours, and the average pay, at least in the textile industries, were based off of how many pieces were manufactured. There was also the introduction of unemployment insurance as part of the 1911 National Insurance Act which protected workers if they became injured or sick to the point they could not work. By creating a financial cushion for families to rely on rather than the little bit of savings they had acquired in case of injury and sickness, this allowed for a little bit more financial freedom among the laboring classes. The trade unions formed in industrial workplaces contributed to the growth of consumerism because it introduced a new audience into the production market.
Another demographic change that should be noted is number of births per family.
Advances in science and overall improved health led to less infant deaths which prompted more families to hold off on new births. In many urban homes, both amongst the working and middle-classes, there was a decrease in this statistic because by having fewer children to support, a family could have a better standard of living. In England and Wales the average number of children per marriage dropped from 6.16 in 1861 to 3.30 by 1900, almost in half. Another factor was the Education Acts of 1870 and 1880 that made primary schooling compulsory for English youth. A good education was not cheap and therefore by having to send fewer children to school, and was a focus in many households because a good education related to being a more skilled worker, which in turn would lead to better
wages.
One of the outcomes of achieving a better employment through a better education was also to social mobility it provided. In the new industrial society, social mobility was more fluid than before, meaning that the ones social standing was not always a birthright but rather a matter of achievement. However, if one was to be considered as a member of a higher class, there was a strict set of values that had to be followed to distinguish this particular group of people from the upper, aristocratic, and lower proletariat classes. The Victorian Values of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had standards that helped promote consumerism. Men were often better dressed and had a set of work or business outfits for the daytime and a set of more elaborate dinner-wear for evening dinner parties. Similarly, women also had a standard of dress. Their outfits were identified by long, full skirts, paired with corsets and blouses, and finished off with petticoats and accessories. Some accessories were a necessity to maintain ones social standing. For example, if a woman were to leave home without a hat, she would be considered lower-class. This social rule created an obligation among the populous to go out and purchase the necessary consumer products. In addition to outfits, the homes were also under the scope of the social eye; dinner parties consisted of multiple courses of imported foods that were paired with wine or other liqueurs. Another aspect of the Victorian home was the ornate décor it contained. The home was meant to create a sanctuary from the working world while demonstrating a degree of ornateness for guests. A combination of these symbols demonstrated the financial prosperity that the working class did not have, therefore contributing to the distinguishing line between the two social groups and the obligation to keep up appearances.
The increased demand of consumer goods for the family and home that came with the growing bourgeois class resulted in the creation of the department stores. These large buildings had a dual purpose in the 19th century society, not only were they respectful places for non-working women to visit, but they also provided a wide variety of products in one place. These purposes worked off of each other, because when the higher middle and upper class women needed out of the home, the department store offered them an attractive haven that fell within the ethics of the Victorian values, therefore creating repeat customers who would be consistently exposed to the colorful displays of new fashions and products throughout the building. In addition to serving the wealthier classes, these shops would employ young women to work on the sales floor. This tactic was beneficial for two reasons; the first being that it contributed to another group of wage earners who would participate in the economy, and because they were considered to be cleaner than men and more relatable to the domestic sphere.
However, as previously mentioned, the wealthier classes still made up only a small portion of the population which is a number that early department stores reflected. In Europe, department stores only took over two percent of the market urban areas due to their small audience. It was the introduction of the American inspired “dime store” that helped attract the working, and more frugal, middle class into the consumer market. Dime stores were more frequently located in the urban areas, whereas the large elaborate department ones were usually found in the more developed neighbourhoods. The dime stores offered the basic and more practical necessities that the lower classes needed like cosmetics and basic clothing at cheaper prices, rather than the more ornate luxuries of the department stores. Indeed, the industrialization that took place around the mid nineteenth and into the early twentieth century England contributed to the growth of consumerism. The new technologies made it easier to obtain and ship resources and goods to factories and urban centers from the colonies. In addition to transportation, the mass-production of items came from a new industrial method with the introduction of the production line. The combination of obtaining and producing large amounts of goods lowered their prices and created a larger market audience that was once only restricted to the wealthy. The industrial growth also led to the demographic changes in the countries because more workers were in demand in order to run the factories and with an urban working class came the need for middle-class trades, like lawyers, shop keepers and doctors, to supply the population. The set of middle-class values during the industrializing Victorian age created a demand for more products in order for the people to maintain their social appearances. The distinguishing needs of the Victorian values defined the clothing, foods, home décor, and degree of respectability that the middle-class households were to uphold. With the introduction of the department and dime stores, it allowed for women to fulfill the necessities of their values while being able to supply their household with the needed goods to demonstrate their social standing. Without the industrial growth, the age of consumerism would have been unable to succeed in the modern world.