Emily Tinne
Chapter Four
From High Culture to Mass Culture in Liverpool 1918-1938
Introduction
This chapter will explore how products and culture became accessible for everyone regardless of class. The rise of mass media changed social norms and how women, especially, should react to the shopping experience. From the conclusions drawn in this chapter, we can see that the working-class consumer enjoyed shopping in the interwar period. Primary sources from the Liverpolitan magazine Lucille of Liverpool show how the media responded to the consumer changes that were taking place in the city at the time. The scholarship Levine details the importance of mass culture in coping with the economic fallout of the Great Depression. Greenwood’s analysis suggests that although there were hardships in northern towns and cities, those women with access to disposable income could afford inexpensive clothing and beauty products. This study details how mass culture was perceived by society and how it affected the women of Liverpool.
Consumer Culture 1918-1938
Despite the economic hardships of the interwar period people still wanted to be entertained. Music, radio, and film proved popular because they were seen inexpensive entertainment.[1] The 1920s was filled with cultural activities, from the cinema to weekly magazines. Audience numbers for those who attended the cinema increased during this time. With the creation of sound appearing in films, ‘Talkies’ became extremely popular and accessible to society who enjoyed the intricate plots that had been missing from silent movies.[2] The increases in culture was also achieved through the use of the radio with the broadcasting of shows bringing a host of programmes to the airwaves in the form of music, news, drama and comedy shows, which were inexpensive to produce for broadcasting companies.[3] It was now possible for society to explore the local, national and global events of the 1930s from their homes with the advances that were made in radio broadcasting.
The interwar era saw the rise of literature and information with the production of books, magazines and literature in large numbers to satisfy demand.[4] The technological improvements that were made in publishing allowed for such publications to be produced quickly and cheaper because of factories ability to mass produce and distribute their products to stores effectively.[5] According to Bell, there were disadvantages to the cultural changes that was previously meant for those who were seen as elite to the mass cultural products that everyone could obtain. The deterioration in intellectual values, according to Bell was a factor because publishers valued their profit margins and entertainment over complex debates.[6] However, the use of mass culture as a tool to entertain the masses in the 1930s was significant in appealing to people who previously did not have access to the cultural market.
The transformations in consumer culture suggest that the interwar years influenced our consumer culture today. Levine implies that there are similarities between ‘folk and mass culture’ that were apparent in the 1930s and that using commercialised ‘mass culture’ helped to ‘produce a sense of community that helped people manage the challenges of the period’.[7] Folk culture offered a sense of belonging in interwar Liverpool with music halls and the cinema being used by people in local communities. Access to this type of mass culture helped unite people facing uncertain times during the Great Depression. For instance, the 1930s by listening to radio programmes and films at the cinema helped bring about a shared experiences for those who witnessed such encounters.
The Rise in Modernity 1920-1938
Between 1922 and 1935, there was a growing need for various domestic items. Most of the products were built not to last. However, they pacified the domestic housewife of the early twentieth century who had grown tired of using appliances that were popular in the Victorian era. An increase in furniture and appliances took place when the demolition of slum housing took place. However, Liverpool’s unemployment rate peaked in 1932, yet surprisingly, sales of products in the same year reached two million pounds. The statistics suggest that these figures were not surpassed until 1940 when the cost of appliances increased. To support the notion that consumer culture was influential during the interwar period the data shows that purchases in the city did not fall below one million and seven hundred pounds between 1920 and 1940.[8] The reduction in household size and the increase of urban living had seen a growing trend from all classes of consumer to purchase similar items. This was aided by the spread of mass culture, the widespread circulation of newspapers, and the increased advertising from businesses which all helped to homogenise social behaviour regardless of class structures. For example, workers at the docks in Liverpool began to dress more like retail assistants, and working-class housewives were now purchasing the same household brands as those from the upper classes.[9] This shows that there was a decline in some areas of class, but it was not a total shift. However, the rise in modern living showed that the working classes hoped to achieve a better standard of living, which could be achieved through modernity.
As discussed in this thesis Liverpool did have elements of poor housing. The Liverpool University Settlement Society in 1931 found ‘defective roofs’ when conducting their survey on the correlation between housing and deprivation. Ill-fitting windows were a problem that could make a home cold and damp, bringing about ill health to its occupants. Some people lived in one room with mattresses doubling as an evening bed and a living quarter during daylight hours. For many living below the poverty line furniture was difficult to come by. What little some people owned was unacceptable for many homes.[10] Taylor claimed in English History, ‘The 1930s have been referred to as the dark years and the devils decade’. To Taylor, living a more affluent lifestyle did not unite with those living in poverty. Although Taylor asserts that most of the population could live more prosperously than ever before.[11] Greenwood argues that historical accounts such as the one from Taylor represent modern interpretations of interwar living. However, to Greenwood, despite the hardships that many faced, consumerism was widespread in northern towns and cities with young ladies wearing ‘cheap artificial stockings, cheap short-skirted frocks, cheap coats, cheap shoes and crimped hair, powder and rouge’.[12] Mass production of garments and beauty items were readily available to those women who had some disposable icon but throughout the historiography cities such as Liverpool are seen as living in complete deprivation when in reality that was not the case for everyone.
Media Attitudes to Consumer Culture 1920-1938
Women from all socioeconomic backgrounds were drawn to various consumer cultures. available to them via several different sources. The interwar period saw print media target women with magazines focusing on women and girls. For working-class women, magazines such as Peg’s Paper were popular and sold alongside magazines such as Women, Woman’s Own and Good Housekeeping. Magazines predominantly aimed at women emphasised beauty standards, fashion trends and the glamour associated with the cinema. More significantly, this kind of magazines taught young women how they should behave towards the opposite sex.[13] Romantic advice became the most sought-after information within these magazines owing to the Hollywood glamour that was written into films and appealed to teenage girls.
The popularity of mass consumerism changed the media’s attitudes towards retailing and the women who occupied these spaces. Although there were sometimes concerns about how consumer culture influenced women, the media used its popularity to portray women as somewhat obsessed with consumerism. The Liverpool monthly magazine Liverpolitan featured a column entitled ‘Lucille of Liverpool’. Penned anonymously, Lucille of Liverpool showed that women could exist within the two spheres of the domestic world and consumer culture. By scrutinising how consumer culture influenced some women in their roles within the home and as consumers, the column helps us understand how women participated in different elements of consumerism. The column depicted a typical shopping experience ‘Receive brochure from George Henry Lees assuring me that this time is the time to shop, as prices were at the lowest and bargains could never be repeated…suggest to David that this is the time to shop who looked unmoved and says he must be going. Am aware of certain unwifey thoughts, and viciously decide to take the wherewithal out of the housekeeping money, which means dealing at Irwin’s shepherd’s pie every Wednesday…but am undeterred’.[14] The media used a somewhat comical portrayal of consumerism that suggested that women would rather shop that care for their husbands. By implying that women were obsessed with consumer culture, it shows that the media were happy to portray women as neglectful and careless when dealing with the family budget, preferring to spend money on shopping for themselves than their husbands who were patiently waiting at home for a cooked meal.
Media narratives like the one used in Lucille’s diary imply that the shopping experience gripped women. ‘A Liverpool Lady’s Wardrobe’, a 2006 exhibition at the Liverpool Walker Art Gallery, detailed one woman’s life consumed by retailing in the interwar period. Unworn clothing owned by Emily Tinne who lived in Liverpool was exhibited by her estate. The exhibition could only display some items, and the number of garments donated shows how influential consumer culture was to Mrs Tinne.[15] Emily Tinne had wealth and was lavish in her spending on furs and hats, with many remaining unworn from the department stores they were bought from such as Bon Marche and Owen Owen. However, despite Emily’s wealth her interest in shopping may not have been uncommon with many women using consumer culture as a hobby.[16] With the rise of the shopping experience especially attracting women to their stores, women were seen as able to shape consumer culture. Lucille of Liverpool and the exhibition of Emily Tinne give a sense of women on opposite ends of the financial spectrum being obsessed with consumerism in Liverpool.
Conclusion
The transformations to consumerism brought high culture to the general public. Through visits to the cinema, women were able to copy the styles of their favourite film stars, with trends being copied through mass media channels such as magazines. Books became cheap to produce, allowing the spread of ideas to take place, creating a sense of unity and shared encounters. Despite the high levels of poverty that were still apparent in Liverpool, there were indications through the rise of mass marketing that the class system was narrowing. Historians such as Taylor depicted Liverpool as a city that was in decline. However, because of the mass marketing of products being produced much cheaper than ever, consumers could still use the fashion trends that were available to them. Through ideas presented to women through magazine articles, women could access ideas on contemporary fashion and how to dress appropriately. There is evidence, from feature articles such as Lucille of Liverpool that the media capitalised on women’s enjoyment of shopping to suggest that they were obsessed with consumerism. Through the media, there was the realisation that the female consumer experience had shown that Liverpool could improve their economy and bring about stability during an era blighted by poverty and deprivation.
Conclusion
This thesis has examined if the rise of the working-class female shopper in Liverpool led to a culture of abundance. By combining the individual topics of this dissertation, this conclusion summarises the research discovered within the four chapters and suggests some approaches for additional investigation.
Summary
When the four chapters are investigated simultaneously, it is clear that the rise of the working-class woman shopper in interwar Liverpool did lead to a culture of abundance. At the same time, poverty and deprivation were still engrained within the population of Liverpool throughout the interwar period, with one of the reasons being the decline of dockyard activity. The 0.2 per cent annual reduction in trade at the dock shows that Liverpool was affected by the changes to trade routes, further slowing down the economy. With such deterioration of dockyard trade, the demands for raw materials fell, bringing about a decline in the manufacturing of materials that were being produced across Liverpool. The shrinkage of labour at the port of Liverpool led to high levels of unemployment and placed the city in financial decline; this, coupled with the Great Depression, saw the dock’s reliance on industries also struggling in the economic downturn. Liverpool docks struggled because of their financial difficulties, and the city faced challenges after World War I. Once soldiers returned home, they faced challenges because of injuries received during the war and their inability to find employment because of these needs. In order to support their families, some women had little choice but to enter the workplace while their husbands were recuperating at home from their war injuries. The increase in employment within the retail sector helped some women achieve this. For men who could work, though, finding full-time employment at the docks was difficult. Employment for some came in the form of a three-day working work or casualisation, with those who struggled to find employment relying on a system that saw unemployed men turning up at the docks to see if potential employers would choose them for work. This system left many feeling humiliated and degraded. However, for those who could find work, life was not much better with casualisation, low pay and the threat of unemployment, bringing a lack of security to their lives and their families. The difficulties faced by families impacted upon women who usually ran their homes within the domestic sphere so dealt with the household expenditure.
Women who fell into extreme hardship faced challenges, and some looked to local moneylenders to help their families falling further into debt. Usually, women borrowed money without the knowledge of their husbands because of the shame that was associated with moneylending practices that took place. Seeking out a moneylender was a last resort for borrowing because it came with predatory payback systems, such as high-interest rates. In order to stop this kind of borrowing, the government brought in the Moneylending Act of 1927 to stop illegal moneylending practices and educate those who wanted to borrow money about the pitfalls of such community lending. Although the act was a failure, moneylending practices did decrease in Liverpool. There may be two reasons for that, one being the financial difficulties that people were experiencing in the 1930s. The other is that some women were able to leave the domestic sphere and gain employment in places such as retail, allowing them some disposable income that could be spent on consumerism.
The developments in manufacturing brought about by the Industrial Revolution helped to enhance commercialisation and make products accessible to a wider range of people. The improvements in mass production allowed working-class women to enter spaces such as the department store that had previously been reserved for middle- and upper-class females. However, the technological advances in manufacturing and the change in attitudes from the working class towards consumerism gave department stores the chance to profiteer from these changes by increasing the number of products they sold within their stores to cope with the demand. For some women who could enter the workplace, their empowerment helped to create an increase in demand for extravagant goods, with the department store having the monopoly on such products because they could offer a wide selection of consumer products to suit all budgets under one roof. However, such positive changes to retailing saw a decline in dressmakers. With the increase in manufacturing came garments being produced for a cheaper price. Consumers found purchasing cheaper clothing was more economical than seeking a professional seamstress for repair. By offering such a selection of goods, department stores were able to eliminate the competition from smaller independent retailers in urban areas. The improvements to transportation links saw customers accessing stores more easily, with those who lived in urban communities able to travel to the city centre, which had now become the commercial centre for shopping.
What also helped to increase the appeal of the department store was the introduction of Hollywood glamour in the 1930s. The cinema inspired women to replicate the looks of the actresses they saw in the movies, with department stores capitalising on shoppers’ enthusiasm by offering promotions to bring the consumer to their stores. The department store brought the glamour of Hollywood to their business, and it allowed women especially to enter the world of fantasy, helping them to imagine a more exciting lifestyle where they did not have to be concerned with domesticity. However, there was the negative side of department stores being able to mass-produce their goods. The reduction in quality was a factor because the manufacturing process put quantity over quality. This brought about an increase in garments being discarded and replaced.
Advances in marketing campaigns saw department stores use Civic Week to entice customers to their stores. Using mannequin parades and unique selling points, such as inviting famous stars to their stores, allowed shoppers to experience the department store as a site of leisure and entertainment. Managers used a whole host of marketing techniques to attract customers to visit their department stores, including the use of window displays, which became an important selling point that the passing trade could enjoy. However, the department store being seen as a place of elegance and lavish spending had a detrimental effect on street sellers who, according to Liverpool council, did not positively affect the city centre as a place where consumers could enjoy retailing.
Advertisements from department stores in newspapers such as the Liverpool Echo were read mainly by the working-class population of Liverpool. This helped to increase sales for department stores by using mass media to highlight their products. Mass production and marketing increases intended mainly for female shoppers encouraged potential customers to visit stores to copy the styles printed in the Liverpool Echo. Using garments that were once considered extravagant allowed department stores to manufacture fur products by using cheaper fur to appeal to working-class females. Using this approach allowed stores to customise their clothing to the consumer’s specific needs and bring clothing that was considered luxurious to the masses. Stores managed to maintain control of the consumer market, and eventually, there was less need for such advertisements because trust in consumerism was high within the department store. The increases in marketing and advertising allowed working-class women to use the department store not only as a place for consumerism but as a site of leisure, socialisation and entertainment and through this mass appeal of the department store, working-class women discovered that they were able to participate in the consumer culture that they were once excluded.
By becoming sites of leisure and entertainment, department stores were able to revolutionise the shopping experience for their customers, and by capitalising on the societal changes of the time, such as the rise in Hollywood glamour and their ability to bring inexpensive products to consumers, they were able to survive the Great Depression era. For most of the country, department stores were in decline, but in Liverpool, due to the business sense of store owners, they managed to succeed independently. Frederick Marquis, chairman of Lewis’s Department store, understood that Liverpool was rooted in deep poverty, which brought shame upon families. Marquis believed Lewis could help people achieve a better standard of living. By employing men and women who had a university standard of education, the store established a staff training division to educate staff members on retail practices, which could lead to promotions within the store. Lewis’s was forward-thinking regarding supporting their staff by offering them meals, providing health care, and giving them two weeks’ yearly holiday with pay. These modifications created good relations between the workers and the management and encouraged staff to remain employed at the store rather than looking for employment elsewhere.
The growth of mass media during the interwar period led to an increase in people accessing culture like never before with the technological advances in radio broadcasting. Their ability to use mass culture was significant to the working-class population, who had previously been excluded from cultural innovations. For residents in Liverpool, the growth of mass culture offered a common bond with others who were accessing the same music and literature, with music halls and cinemas helping to bring people together through shared experiences. By bringing people together, it helped to bridge some gaps that existed in class structures. However, this was not a total change; the growth of mass culture allowed the working classes to aspire to a better standard of living. As shown in this study, the mass production of clothing and products was more accessible to people who had disposable income. Although, within the historiography, Liverpool was seen as a city that lived in complete poverty and deprivation. This study has attempted to reveal that this was not the case for everyone.
Within the change from high culture to mass culture, working-class women could access magazines more easily, with most seeking out the latest fashion trends, beauty styles and romantic advice because the glamourous lifestyles of film stars interested young teenage girls. Although, despite the media’s attempts to sway women into the world of consumerism, there was also the narrative from newspapers and magazines that suggested that women were becoming obsessed with consumer culture. By implying that women were negligent in their household duties of the domestic sphere and would instead shop contrasts against the advertisements from department stores that local newspapers allowed in their publications. However, this thesis shows that with the changes made to retailing, such as the mass production of clothing, department store managers attract working-class women into their stores through mass advertising and marketing strategies. The change from a high culture previously available to the middle and upper classes and the rise of the working-class woman shopper in interwar Liverpool led to a culture of abundance.
Approaches for Further Analysis
This dissertation has considered whether the rise of the working-class woman shopper in interwar Liverpool led to a culture of abundance, although this area of study is a small part of history amongst a wider narrative of the economic situation in Liverpool. As a result, the research can be taken further. Although Charlotte Wildman offers analysis into the urban redevelopments in Liverpool during this era, further research can be developed in the ways in which people shopped when the slum clearance in Liverpool began and families moved away from the city centre. More data can be collected by locating people through census records who worked or shopped in Liverpool’s department stores and although these people will now be deceased they may have family members who could impart stories or items of interest from an era of history that has still to be discovered.
This study has attempted to explain the growth of consumerism in the interwar period through an analytical lens. It offers a historical analysis into the working-class woman shopper with the opportunity for further research into how far such women were using the department store rather than independent shops and chain stores to purchase their goods. Finally, although this topic of this thesis has offered evidence to show that the rise of the working-class woman shopper in interwar Liverpool led to a culture of abundance, additional research is required to focus on the daily routines of these women and how far they were able to break free from their household duties, the domestic sphere and if they could financially support themselves through the employment opportunities that were available to them.
[1] Edward Shils, ‘Mass Society and Its Culture’, Daedalus, 2 (1960), pp. 292-309.
[2] Kraft, James P. Kraft, ‘Musicians in Hollywood: Work and Technological Change in Entertainment Industries, 1926-1940’, Technology and Culture 2 (1994), pp. 293-296
[3] Alice Goldfarb Marquis, ‘Written on the Wind: The Impact of Radio during the 1930s’, Journal of Contemporary History, 3 (1984), pp. 386-412.
[4] Berry Mayall, and Virginia Morrow, In You Can Help Your Country: English Children’s Work during the Second World War, (London, 2011), p. 26-42.
[5] Bonnie White, ‘‘What to Do with the Girls?’ The Legacy of Women Farm Workers in Britain, 1919—1939’, Historical Reflections, 2 (2016), pp. 97-101.
[6] Daniel Bell, ‘The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism’, Journal of Aesthetic Education, 6 (1972), pp. 23-34.
[7] Lawrence W. Levine, ‘The Folklore and its Audiences’, American Historical Review, 97 (1992), pp. 1369-99.
[8] Briggs, Friends of the People the Centenary History of Lewis’s, p. 181
[9] Ibid., p. 186.
[10] Wildman, Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester 1918-1939, (London, 2018), p. 1.
[11] A. J. P. Taylor, English History: 1914-1945, (Oxford, 1965), p. 317.
[12] Walter Greenwood, Love on the Dole, (London, 2004), p. 42.
[13] Penny Tinkler, Constructing Girlhood: Popular Magazines for Girls Growing up in England 1920-1950, (London, 1995), p. 119-50.
[14] Wildman, Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester 1918-1939, p. 54.
[15] Pauline Rushton, Mrs Tinne’s Wardrobe: A Liverpool Lady’s Clothes, 1900-1940, (Liverpool, 2006), p. 27.
[16] Ibid., p. 32-33.
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