Modernizing traditional womanhood: Gender, consumption, and modernity in interwar France and Germany, 1920–1939

Adam Craig Stanley, Purdue University

Abstract

In the wake of the chaos and upheaval unleashed by the First World War, conceptions of gender became the focal point around which French and German cultural ideology sought to restore a wider sense of order and stability in the postwar era. The commonly expressed belief suggested that a return to more traditional roles for men and women would serve as a panacea for the plethora of political, social, and economic problems that characterized the entire period separating the World Wars. At the same time, notions of masculinity and femininity could not simply be reasserted in their prewar forms; a reconstruction of gender ideals was necessary in order to account for real changes in society. In particular, the 1920s and 1930s witnessed the increased visibility and significance of consumer culture in everyday life, and while neither France nor Germany yet possessed a true mass consumer economy, in both nations there was a shift toward a consumer mentality, wherein women especially were being defined more closely on the basis of a culture of consumption, in particular newly available (or newly improved) items associated with modernity—products ranging from refrigerators to automobiles. In this light, interwar constructions of gender were inextricably linked to consumer culture and the modern, and commercial imagery provided a critical avenue for the dissemination of popular ideology as well as the delineation of gender roles, norms, and boundaries. In advertising and publicity materials, women were assured that a life devoted to home and hearth would not be an unmitigated return to the realm of old-fashioned tradition, but thanks to new modern consumer goods, would instead be an empowering lifestyle based on the wonders and benefits of modern technology. Still, this conception of femininity discursively incorporated new consumer goods into tasks consonant with women's roles as wives and mothers, such as caring for children and maintaining a healthy household. Thus a discourse of modernity and empowerment was utilized to uphold a traditional conception of womanhood in French and German popular ideology.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Walton, Purdue University.

Subject Area

European history|History|Womens studies

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