From Budgeting to Buying: Canadian Consumerism in the Post War Era

Authors

  • Bettina Liverant

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21971/P79597

Abstract

From the late 1940s to the early 1960s Canadians shifted from a predilection for careful budgeting and "making do" to consumers in training, and later, full-fledged participants in the buy now, pay later mode of North American consumption prevalent from the sixties to the present. Using three "typical" Canadian families featured by Chatelaine Magazine in 1949, 1954 and 1962 as the hub of analysis, this article examines the transformation in attitudes toward domestic spending, the use of credit, and the manner in which new patterns of spending and consumption were simultaneously reflected in and authorized by the magazine.

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Author Biography

Bettina Liverant

Bettina Liverant is a doctoral candidate at the University of Alberta. Her dissertation, entitled Buying Happiness, examines the emergence and formation of a new ethos of consumption in Canada, 1890-1960.

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Published

2008-02-21

How to Cite

Liverant, B. (2008). From Budgeting to Buying: Canadian Consumerism in the Post War Era. Past Imperfect, 8. https://doi.org/10.21971/P79597

Issue

Section

Articles