Consuming men: Masculinity, race, and American magazines, 1900-1950

Thomas David Pendergast, Purdue University

Abstract

This study argues that the rise of mass consumer culture was a determining factor in reshaping American notions of masculinity as they were presented in popular magazines between 1900 and 1950, though not in quite the ways that historians have long assumed. The transformative effects of consumer culture reshaped the American magazine market from early in the twentieth century, making most magazines dependent on reaching mass audiences and providing a medium for corporate advertisers. These changing magazines narrated a shift from Victorian masculinity, which valued character, integrity, hard-work, and duty, to Modern masculinity, which valued personality, self-realization, and image. While much scholarship has decried the effects of the rise of consumer culture, this study treats consumer culture as an energizing force in the American magazine market and suggests that such magazines offered men new and meaningful visions of masculine identity, and opened the way for African American and working-class men to identify with normative masculine values. Conclusions are based on an examination of twenty-three magazines--editorial policy, fiction and articles, and advertising--published at various times throughout the period, as well as research into the careers of several editors and writers who played pivotal roles in the American magazine market.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Curtis, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American studies|American history|Mass media|Marketing

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