Week #4: The Possibilities and Limitations of the “Affluent Society” Lecture #6: Consuming Our Way to Mass Prosperity Tuesday, February 22, Tension between extension—even expansion—of New Deal progressivism vs. return of old order resolved through embrace of a “Consumers’ Republic” and “democracy through prosperity” a. New role for state in fueling private economy b. Working-class Americans “included” in mainstream America not through powerful unions asserting authority on shopfloor and in company management but through participation in mass consumption and national prosperity c. Return of importance of nuclear family and men’s authority within in 2.GI Bill as case of government resources supporting male breadwinner, privileging middle class and whites 3.Concluding points: a. Suburbanization key to strategy of egalitarianism based on consumption, but also created new kinds of distinctions along class, race, and gender lines b. Mass consumption as national duty of citizens and central to American superiority vs. Soviet Union (see kitchen debate)