The Standard of Living Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed as her involvement in left-wing politics led to a place on the Hollywood blacklist.

Quotations by Dorothy Parker Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves. I've never been a millionaire but I just know I'd be darling at it.

Background information After World War II, consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire. In fact, the American consumer was praised as a patriotic citizen in the 1950s, contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life. "The good purchaser devoted to 'more, newer and better' was the good citizen," historian Lizabeth Cohen explained, "since economic recovery after a decade and a half of depression and war depended on a dynamic mass consumption economy."

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue has been a great stretch for as long as New York has been a great city, and its very name evokes wealth and opulence. All who consider themselves suave and cosmopolitan end up here, and the stores showcase New York’s most conspicuous consumerism. That the shopping is beyond the means of most people needn’t you put off, for Fifth Avenue has some of the city’s best architecture, too; the boutiques and stores are just the icing on the cake.

The federal government and the American people saw the new consumerism as a way to deemphasize class differences while stressing traditional gender roles. With the things that defined "the good life" within economic reach, working-class people could achieve the upward mobility they craved. One of the biggest industries to benefit from the end of the war and the rise of consumerism was the fashion industry. People had grown tired of the clothing restrictions that governments had enacted during wartime, and soon returned to wearing luxurious and expressive clothing.

Historians such as Angel Kwolek-Folland have convincingly demonstrated that changes in business ideologies underwrote new understandings of masculinity and femininity. As women entered the middleclass workforce in unprecedented numbers, normative concepts of gender increasingly became oriented around professional occupations for both men and women, making "the needs of the workplace mesh with attitudes about appropriate womanhood and manhood."

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