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GCSE History · key term
A culture in which buying goods and services is encouraged and possessions are associated with happiness, status and success.
Used by AQA and OCR
Paper 1
Revise: Post-war Society and EconomyConsumerism encouraged Americans to see buying and owning products as signs of happiness and success. Advertising promoted the latest appliances, cars and fashions, encouraging people to replace or add to their possessions. Rising incomes supported spending; increased spending then encouraged production and employment.
Paper 3
The growing importance of buying and using goods, rather than simply producing necessities for oneself, in everyday life.
For consumerism’s impacts, explain a causal chain: demand for imported calico created competition for domestic weavers, contributing to protest and parliamentary restrictions.
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Consumerism concerns the growing importance of buying and using goods in everyday life. It is different from trade itself: trade describes goods being exchanged, whereas consumerism concerns the place of purchasing and consumption in people’s lives. During 1688–c.1730, overseas commerce widened the range of goods available in Britain and changed tastes in clothing, household furnishings and drinks.