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Financing the American Dream
Once there was a golden age of American thrift, when citizens lived sensibly within their means and worked hard to stay out of debt. The growing availability of credit in this century, however, has brought those days to an end--undermining traditional moral virtues such as prudence, diligence, and the delay of gratification while encouraging reckless consumerism. Or so we commonly believe. In this engaging and thought-provoking book, Lendol Calder shows that this conception of the past is in fact a myth.
Calder presents the first book-length social and cultural history of the rise of consumer credit in America. He focuses on the years between 1890 and 1940, when the legal, institutional, and moral bases of today's consumer credit were established, and in an epilogue takes the story up to the present. He draws on a wide variety of sources--including personal diaries and letters, government and business records, newspapers, advertisements, movies, and the words of such figures as Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and P. T. Barnum--to show that debt has always been with us. He vigorously challenges the idea that consumer credit has eroded traditional values. Instead, he argues, monthly payments have imposed strict, externally reinforced disciplines on consumers, making the culture of consumption less a playground for hedonists than an extension of what Max Weber called the "iron cage" of disciplined rationality and hard work.
Throughout, Calder keeps in clear view the human face of credit relations. He re-creates the Dickensian world of nineteenth-century pawnbrokers, takes us into the dingy backstairs offices of loan sharks, into small-town shops and New York department stores, and explains who resorted to which types of credit and why. He also traces the evolving moral status of consumer credit, showing how it changed from a widespread but morally dubious practice into an almost universal and generally accepted practice by World War II. Combining clear, rigorous arguments with a colorful, narrative style, Financing the American Dream will attract a wide range of academic and general readers and change how we understand one of the most important and overlooked aspects of American social and economic life.
Calder presents the first book-length social and cultural history of the rise of consumer credit in America. He focuses on the years between 1890 and 1940, when the legal, institutional, and moral bases of today's consumer credit were established, and in an epilogue takes the story up to the present. He draws on a wide variety of sources--including personal diaries and letters, government and business records, newspapers, advertisements, movies, and the words of such figures as Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and P. T. Barnum--to show that debt has always been with us. He vigorously challenges the idea that consumer credit has eroded traditional values. Instead, he argues, monthly payments have imposed strict, externally reinforced disciplines on consumers, making the culture of consumption less a playground for hedonists than an extension of what Max Weber called the "iron cage" of disciplined rationality and hard work.
Throughout, Calder keeps in clear view the human face of credit relations. He re-creates the Dickensian world of nineteenth-century pawnbrokers, takes us into the dingy backstairs offices of loan sharks, into small-town shops and New York department stores, and explains who resorted to which types of credit and why. He also traces the evolving moral status of consumer credit, showing how it changed from a widespread but morally dubious practice into an almost universal and generally accepted practice by World War II. Combining clear, rigorous arguments with a colorful, narrative style, Financing the American Dream will attract a wide range of academic and general readers and change how we understand one of the most important and overlooked aspects of American social and economic life.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2019
I met Lendol at an event a few years ago where he presented this book and I've been meaning to read it since. I'm so glad I finally did because it's such a fascinating cultural history of credit and debt. More accurately, it's a history of how Americans have viewed those who take on credit and debt. In every age, moralists hearken back to some mythical past where people were more thrifty and less indebted. There isn't a macro discussion of how debt changed or why people started relying more on credit after the 60s and that's an important part of the story, but this book is fascinating and enjoyable
March 25, 2023
more a cultural and anecdotal review of the history, not a quantitative or comprehensive one. still good to read.
December 9, 2008
This was a very informative book. It helped me to understand the Cultural history of American Credit. The thought that credit is a new idea or even a recent phenomenon is blown out of the water by Calder's detailed analysis of the cultural norms and mores of the recent history. While he focuses mostly on the Victorian Age through the Depression- he lays the groundwork for a well thought out arguement. I wish he had been just as detailed when looking through more recent history- specifically the 50s through the present day- but his scope was clearly defined and he provided the necessary background for his main arguement. All in all a fascinating book and one that I am glad that I read.
July 10, 2008
Fascinating story of how credit markets evolved - particularly how Americans attitude towards credit changed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews