Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)
Studies - Sándor Végh: Adoption or Adaptation?: Interpretations of the Automobile
into their lives, and culture was in a process of continuous formation. The consumer society was just adjusting to the new circumstances. Susman observed that people entered from the world of scarcity into the world of abundance, leisure became as important as labor, and they did not hoard their savings anymore, but spent much of it.- While in the 1870's, as W. G. Sumner wrote, the savings bank depositor was the true hero of civilization, now Americans learned that they were largely to think of themselves as consumers (111). The change in human nature followed soon: the values of Puritanism were being replaced by ideas of Modernism, which caused a serious rift between the two generations involved. Generally, the self-awareness and individualization movement juxtaposed with mass production and mass consumption shows an interesting and controversial duality. One might wonder how it is possible to satisfy the needs of so many individuals by providing mass-produced cars for them. It is known that newspapers and magazines gave the motorcar generous and extensive coverage, both in the format of news reports and commercial advertisement. On the whole, the national taste about the automobile was consciously formed and manipulated, thus; the mass automobile industry could more easily satisfy the needs of the consumers. Mass consumer culture makes it possible through mass communication not to control the consumer article only, but to manipulate directly the consumers' demands. Loewy complained that "whatever was chosen by the major manufacturers became the accepted style through saturation" (Gammage 146). Certainly, a range of media products played a key role in the popularization of the automobile. With Hollywood in the lead, they even managed to form popular taste abroad and thus created an international market for the American-made automobile overseas. In the new world of mass consumption people still wanted to express their individual needs. For instance, soon after Ford had provided them with a cheap and reliable family car they realized that price and efficiency were not enough —they demanded new inventions and luxuries. This claim is supported by numerous instances when people actually suggested improvements themselves directly to car 2 This phenomenon can be very well demonstrated by Ford's 8-hour 5-dollar day, which resulted in more money to spend and more time for leisure. 82
