What do consumers really want? In the mid-twentieth century, many marketing executives sought to answer this question by looking to the theories of Sigmund Freud and his followers. By the 1950s, Freudian psychology had become the adman's most powerful new tool, promising to plumb the depths of shoppers' subconscious minds to access the irrational desires beneath their buying decisions. That the unconscious was the key to consumer behavior was a new idea in the field of advertising, and its impact was felt beyond the commercial realm.
Centered on the fascinating lives of the brilliant men...
What do consumers really want? In the mid-twentieth century, many marketing executives sought to answer this question by looking to the theories of...
The middle class is often viewed as the heart of American society, the key to the country s democracy and prosperity. Most Americans believe they belong to this group, and few politicians can hope to be elected without promising to serve the middle class. Yet today the American middle class is increasingly seen as under threat. In "The American Middle Class: A Cultural History," Lawrence R. Samuel charts the rise and fall of this most definitive American population, from its triumphant emergence in the post-World War II years to the struggles of the present day.
Between the 1920s and...
The middle class is often viewed as the heart of American society, the key to the country s democracy and prosperity. Most Americans believe they b...
