1920年代美国汽车工业在消费社会中的作用

On the Automobile Industry in the Consumer Society in the 1920s

汽车工业在1920年代的发展及影响,成为美国消费社会形成过程的一个缩影。在这一时期,汽车作为大众消费品的商品特性,汽车生产者和消费者的行为,人们对商品和商品导向行为的态度都发生了深刻的变化,映射出消费社会在美国的形成。在促成消费社会形成的这一过程中,汽车工业发现自己不得不面对生产力过度发展和消费不足的问题,进而采取了符合消费主义理念的应对措施。汽车工业部门的这一转变反映了消费社会的进一步发展。因此,无论是从消费社会的形成、还是从它的进一步发展来看,汽车工业都是1920年代美国消费社会的一面镜子。

The 1920s is an important decade in American history. One of its important attracting aspects is the shaping of consumer society. The characteristics of consumer society include three aspects: commodity characteristics, the interlinked behaviors of producers and consumers, attitudes toward commodities and commodity-oriented behavior. All of these aspects changed greatly in the 1920s. The development of the automobile industry during this period reflected these aspects of consumer society. When facing the problem of overproduction and underconsumption, the automobile industry reacted according to consumerism. The production method of the automobile changed from mass production to flexible mass production. It induced people to “planned obsolescence”. The automobile industry was the mirror of the American consumer society in the 1920s since it reflected the shaping and development of consumer society.