Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture [Paperback]

Stuart Ewen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1977

Considering advertising and the consumer culture, this text covers the social crisis of industrialization; advertising as social production; the political ideology of consumption; and the social crisis of the mass culture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stewart Ewen is professor of media studies and chair of the Department of Communications at Hunter College. He is also a professor in the Ph.D. programs in history and sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author of the acclaimed Captains of Consciousness, Channels of Desire, and All Consuming Images, the last of which provided the basis for Bill Moyers’s award-winning PBS series The Public Mind. He lives in New York City.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 261 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (June 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070198462
• ISBN-13: 978-0070198463
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consumer society revealed, August 23, 2001

By 

J. Grattan "Ideas can move the world" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captains Of Consciousness Advertising And The Social Roots Of The Consumer Culture (Paperback)

This book is a penetrating analysis of the origins of our mass-culture, consumerist society. First, the author debunks the notion that consumerism was a natural technological development or clearly represents progress.

The author makes evident that the captions of industry sought to exert control over the entire social milieu beginning in the 1920s. Their foremost project was to define American life as consumerism. Consumption was marketed as far more than acquiring the essentials of life; it was a means to transform one's life: to achieve social esteem, to escape otherwise mediocre, humdrum lives. It was very much an individualistic approach to life in contrast to the traditional focus on small communities or extended families.

Industrialism was not easily swallowed by workers of the 19th and early 20th century. Traditional social bonds became irrelevant in factory production. Also under scientific management work was systematically deskilled and redefined by management. The strike wave of 1919 and the "Red Scare" of the early 20's convinced economic elites to set upon a course of pacification of discontented citizens in addition to measures of suppression.

The advertising in the 20's tried to convince that the mass production of consumable items was of tremendous benefit to society. The "freedom" of workers as consumers to transform their lives more than offset the actual loss of control over work processes. Every effort was made to see that mass-culture goods penetrated and hence defined all areas of life. Non-acceptance of that corporate-defined world was not viewed kindly. Virtually all non-market activity was cast as secondary, if not illegitimate. Buying superceded voting as the means to social remedy. Even families became purchasing units.

By the 1950s the transformation of the US to a consumerist culture was virtually complete. The penetration of corporate-owned television into all households ensured that alternatives to consumerism would not surface which was a continuation of the trend of centralization of all media outlets. The free-market and free trade ideologues of the 1990s are merely following in those same footsteps.

Though written 25 years ago, this book remains relevant today. More recent authors such as Kuttner, Schiller, Lindblom, or Frank can only add to what Ewen has already said.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pioneer history of American advertising, January 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (Paperback)

Captains of Consciousness, written more than twenty years ago, remains a classic in the field. A fascinating look at the rise of American consumer culture, the book places advertising firmly within the context of pivotal social developments that have shaped the life and mind of twentieth century America. A must read for anyone interested in understanding where we come from, where we are going

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Advertising and Commercial Culture, February 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Captains Of Consciousness Advertising And The Social Roots Of The Consumer Culture (Paperback)

When this book appeared twenty-five years ago, it blew my mind. Filled with amazing insights and information, it's still the best book on the topic. Provocative, thought-provoking, gutsy. Great that this new edition has appeared. It's still the book to read on the subject of advertising.