or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
X
More Buying Choices
63 used & new from $3.99
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In 1910, Henry Ford instituted the "line production system" for "maximum production economy" in his Highland Park, Michigan, plant..." (more)
Key Phrases: immigrant press, productive machinery, modern housewife, Edward Filene, New York, Christine Frederick (more...)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
List Price: $20.95
Price: $18.85 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.10 (10%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Friday, November 13? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
29 new from $13.65 34 used from $3.99

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- -- $2.48
  Paperback $18.85 $13.65 $3.99

Frequently Bought Together

Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture + PR! - A Social History of Spin + Propaganda
Price For All Three: $50.25

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture by Stuart Ewen

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • PR! - A Social History of Spin by Stuart Ewen

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Propaganda by Edward L. Bernays

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

All Consuming Images: The Politics Of Style In Contemporary Culture

All Consuming Images: The Politics Of Style In Contemporary Culture

by Stuart Ewen
4.1 out of 5 stars (13)  $19.80
A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America

A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America

by Lizabeth Cohen
3.9 out of 5 stars (8)  $12.24
Propaganda

Propaganda

by Edward L. Bernays
4.3 out of 5 stars (21)  $12.55
Public Opinion

Public Opinion

by Walter Lippmann
4.0 out of 5 stars (13)  $13.95
Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel

Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel

by Jean Kilbourne
4.3 out of 5 stars (27)  $12.48
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The 25th anniversary edition of a sociology classic-a groundbreaking look at the history of advertising and consumer culture as defining forces in American life.

Captains of Consciousness offers a historical look at the origins of the advertising industry and consumer society at the turn of the twentieth century. For this new edition Stuart Ewen, one of our foremost interpreters of popular culture, has written a new preface that considers the continuing influence of advertising and commercialism in contemporary life. Not limiting his critique strictly to consumers and the advertising culture that serves them, he provides a fascinating history of the ways in which business has refined its search for new consumers by ingratiating itself into Americans' everyday lives. A timely and still-fascinating critique of life in a consumer culture.



About the Author

Stuart Ewen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Film & Media Studies at Hunter College. He is also a filmmaker and lives in New York City.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books; Anniversary edition (June 5, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0465021557
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465021550
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,889 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Stuart Ewen
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Stuart Ewen Page
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
In 1910, Henry Ford instituted the "line production system" for "maximum production economy" in his Highland Park, Michigan, plant. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
immigrant press, productive machinery, modern housewife
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Edward Filene, New York, Christine Frederick, Paul Nystrom, Calvin Coolidge, Helen Woodward, Henry Ford, New Deal, Civilizing the Self, Edward Bernays, Partial Totality, Elizabeth Hoyt, George Phelps, James Rorty, Palmolive Soap, Smart Today, True Story, Walter Dill Scott
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 77 books:
See all 77 books this book cites
 
100 books cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture
88% buy the item featured on this page:
Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture 4.4 out of 5 stars (8)
$18.85
PR! - A Social History of Spin
5% buy
PR! - A Social History of Spin 4.2 out of 5 stars (22)
$18.85
Propaganda
3% buy
Propaganda 4.3 out of 5 stars (21)
$12.55
All Consuming Images: The Politics Of Style In Contemporary Culture
2% buy
All Consuming Images: The Politics Of Style In Contemporary Culture 4.1 out of 5 stars (13)
$19.80
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Consumer society revealed, August 23, 2001
By J. Grattan "book reviewer" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
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
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
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
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable consumer history
This book has had a huge influence on me. With the information in this book and a little bit of your own thought and imagination you can see how our reality is manufactured... Read more
Published 16 months ago by John L. Thompson

4.0 out of 5 stars Instrumental in broadening prospective
Stuart Ewen. Captains of Consciousness. Basic Books, 2001

Preface says that some reviewers labeled the book as "Marxist". They definitely missed the point. Read more
Published on August 27, 2007 by Vladimir Korovkin

2.0 out of 5 stars Social Commentary from a Marxist
To appreciate this book you need have at least a general understand of the work of Karl Marx because the book is written from a Marxist perspective. Read more
Published on March 26, 2007 by anonymous reviewer

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought provoking analysis of advertising/consumer culture
Ewen's book "Captains of Consciousness" is an insightful analysis of the rise of consumerism through advertising. Read more
Published on April 26, 2005 by Nick Matthes

4.0 out of 5 stars Why are 3rd World nations far less materialistic? Read This.
If you've ever spent a considerable amount of time living in a 3rd World nation like I have, this book can help you understand why the USA has such an intense consumer culture... Read more
Published on December 6, 2003

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:
























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.