The Emerging Worker : Equality and Conflict in the Mass Consumption Society

The spectacle of the United States engaging in an antipoverty program in the midst of the greatest, most widely dispersed wealth in the history of mankind is evidence of this. [...] Canada also has her Indians and Eskimos, the inhabitants of the Maritimes and the Gaspe, and other pockets of people who have not shared equally in the general rise in the standard of living. [...] Clearly, the capacity and willingness of wives to get jobs has added to the family's capacity to acquire "discretionary income." The Use of Consumer Credit Another major new factor contributing to increased income is the astounding growth of the use of credit, particularly by those groups in the lower half of the income scale. [...] The Porter Commission on Banking and Finance in Canada reported that, following 1945, rising levels of income and employment, low levels of personal debt, the rising output of durable goods to replace and extend the aging stock of such assets in the hands of consumers, and other factors affecting the willingness and ability of individuals to incur debt, led to a strong consumer credit demand and t [...] We have shown that mass consumption societies have an economy geared to the production and consumption of consumer goods and ser- vices, and that the role of the consumer as investor and contributor of wealth is now as important as that of government or business in the continued growth and stability of the economy.