The Making of European Consumption: Facing the American Challenge

273 Pages·2015·2.558 MB·English

by  Per Lundin, Thomas Kaiserfeld (eds.)

The Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series
Series Editors: Akira Iriye, Professor of History at Harvard University, and Rana
Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University
of Oxford
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Titles include:
Gregor Benton and Edmund Terence Gomez
THE CHINESE IN BRITAIN, 1800–PRESENT
Economy, Transnationalism and Identity
Manu Bhagavan
INDIA AND THE QUEST FOR ONE WORLD
The Peacemakers
Sugata Bose and Kris Manjapra (editors)
COSMOPOLITAN THOUGHT ZONES
South Asia and the Global Circulation of Ideas
Sebastian Conrad and Dominic Sachsenmaier (editors)
COMPETING VISIONS OF WORLD ORDER
Global Moments and Movements, 1880s–1930s
Martin Conway and Kiran Klaus Patel (editors)
EUROPEANIZATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Historical Approaches
Joy Damousi, Mariano Ben Plotkin (editors)
THE TRANSNATIONAL UNCONSCIOUS
Essays in the History of Psychoanalysis and Transnationalism
Desley Deacon, Penny Russell and Angela Woollacott (editors)
TRANSNATIONAL LIVES
Biographies of Global Modernity, 1700–present
Jonathan Gantt
IRISH TERRORISM IN THE ATLANTIC COMMUNITY, 1865–1922
Abigail Green and Vincent Viaene (editors)
RELIGIOUS INTERNATIONALS IN THE MODERN WORLD
Pawel Goral
COLD WAR RIVALRY AND THE PERCEPTION OF THE AMERICAN WEST
Per Högselius
RED GAS
Russia and the Origins of European Energy Dependence
Eric Hotta
PAN-ASIANISM AND JAPAN’S WAR, 1931–45
Robert David Johnson (editor)
ASIA PACIFIC IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION
Martin Klimbe and Joachim Scharloth (editors)
1968 IN EUROPE
A History of Protest and Activism, 1956–77
Erika Kuhlman
RECONSTRUCTING PATRIARCHY AFTER THE GREAT WAR
Women, Gender and Postwar Reconciliation between Nations
Deep Kanta Lahiri Choudhury
TELEGRAPHIC IMPERIALISM
Crisis and Panic n the Indian Empire, c. 1830–1920
Per Lundin and Thomas Kaiserfeld (editors)
THE MAKING OF EUROPEAN CONSUMPTION
Facing the American Challenge
Bruce Mazlish
THE IDEA OF HUMANITY IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Nicola Pizzolato
CHALLENGING GLOBAL CAPITALISM
Labor Migration, Radical Struggle, and Urban Change in Detroit and Turin
Glenda Sluga
THE NATION, PSYCHOLOGY, AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, 1870–1919
Giles Scott-Smith
WESTERN ANTI-COMMUNISM AND THE INTERDOC NETWORK
Cold War Internationale
Mark Tilse
TRANSNATIONALISM IN THE PRUSSIAN EAST
From National Conflict to Synthesis, 1871–1914
Luc van Dongen, Stéphanie Roulin, and Giles Scott-Smith (editors)
TRANSNATIONAL ANTI-COMMUNISM AND THE COLD WAR
Agents, Activities, and Networks
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Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
The Making of European
Consumption
Facing the American Challenge
Edited by
Per Lundin
Associate Professor, Uppsala University, Sweden
and
Thomas Kaiserfeld
Professor, Lund University, Sweden
Editorial matter and selection © Per Lundin and Thomas Kaiserfeld 2015
Remaining chapters © Contributors 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-37403-5
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
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First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-47680-0 ISBN 978-1-137-37404-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137374042
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The making of European consumption : facing the American challenge /
[edited by] Per Lundin, Thomas Kaiserfeld.
pages cm. — (Palgrave Macmillan transnational history series)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Consumption (Economics)—Europe—20th century. 2. Consumers—
Europe—History—20th century. 3. New products—Europe—
History—20th century. 4. Manufactures—Europe—History—20th
century. 5. United States—Foreign public opinion, European. 6. United
States—Relations—Europe. 7. Europe—Relations—United
States. I. Lundin, Per, 1971— II. Kaiserfeld, Thomas, 1964—
HC240.9.C6M35 2015
339.4'7094—dc23 2014038802
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
Contents
List of Figures vi
Series Editors’ Preface x
Acknowledgements xii
Notes on Contributors xiv
Introduction 1
Per Lundin
1 Negotiating American Modernity in Twentieth-Century Europe 17
Mary Nolan
2 Americanization as Creolized Imaginary: The Statue
of Liberty During the Cold War 45
David Nye
3 Forging Europe’s Foodways: The American Challenge 65
Karin Zachmann
4 Tackling Norwegian Cold: The Breakthrough of Home Freezing 89
Terje Finstad, Stig Kvaal, and Per Østby
5 Americanization and Authenticity: Italian Food Products and
Practices in the 1950s and 1960s 111
Emanuela Scarpellini
6 Love and Hate in Industrial Design: Europe’s
Design Professionals and America in the 1950s 134
Kjetil Fallan
7 Confronting the Lure of American Tourism: Modern
Accommodation in the Netherlands 157
Adri A. Albert de la Bruhèze
8 Exploring European Travel: The Swedish Package Tour 178
Thomas Kaiserfeld
9 Coping with Cars, Families, and Foreigners:
Swedish Postwar Tourism 200
Per Lundin
Select Bibliography 229
Index 247
v
List of Figures
2.1 As part of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia,
the Statue of Liberty’s arm and torch were erected as a special
exhibit. The intention was to help raise funds for erecting the
statue as a whole. (Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints &
Photographs Division.) 53
2.2 This cartoon, entitled “Playing with Fire,” depicts South
Africa’s prime minister as toying with the torch, which
represents equality. Note that this use of the Statue of Liberty
has little to do with the United States. (Source: London Daily
Telegraph, 1967.) 56
2.3 Artist Joseph Pennell’s 1918 poster advertised bonds.
“That Liberty Shall Not Perish” references the last line
of the Gettysburg Address: “…that government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.” (Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints &
Photographs Division.) 59
3.1 The U.S. Food for Peace Program promised to deliver world
peace through the provision of food. This chart shows the
global distribution of Food for Peace shipments from 1955
to 1963. (Source: George S. McGovern, War against Want:
America’s Food for Peace Program [New York, 1964], 134.) 73
3.2 Via the European Productivity Agency, American experts
worked with Europeans to standardize food-related
processes from production to marketing to packaging.
This photo represents a scene from the European
Exhibition on Prepacking of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
of 1958. (Source: EPA, Project no. 372: Pre-Packaging
for Fruit and Vegetables. Report of the European Conference
and Exhibition held in London [Paris 1958], 107.) 77
3.3 To some experts, irradiated food appeared to be on the
verge of entering the market in the 1950s. Featured here:
an irradiation canal containing spent fuel elements from
the reactor at the Nuclear Energy Study Center in Mol,
Belgium. (Source: European Productivity Agency,
vi
List of Figures vii
Project No. 396: Report of Working Conference
[Paris, 1959], 128.) 81
4.1 In this photo, two women place food in their freezer-lockers.
The plain, non-branded packaging suggests that they have
prepared the food themselves. (Source: Tröndelag Folk
Museum, The Schröder archive.) 91
4.2 In this advertisement for the manufacturer Aanonsen,
the headline reads: “Aanonsen Home Freezer: The Modern
Storehouse”—a portrayal of the home freezer as a
continuation of traditional storage practices. (Source:
Aanonsen Fabrikker, “Aanonsen hjemmefryser: Det
modern stabbur,” Husmorbladet, October 24, 1959.) 100
4.3 In this ad, the home freezer contains mostly industrially
produced frozen foods. For Europeans, this was not the
norm: freezers were used primarily to store home-produced
foods. (Source: “På kjøkkenveien” [Mandal RadioElektro,
1964].) 104
5.1 In the case of refrigerators, large companies in Italy did not
invest significantly in the new sector. For for several years, Fiat
produced refrigerators under the Westinghouse license before
ceasing production. The victors in the Italian market were
small players. (Source: La Cucina Italiana, July 1957, 598.) 118
5.2 Featured here: one version of the modern “American”
kitchen within an ideal home. Italian women approached the
American kitchen with caution. In fact, the women of Italy
domesticated American elements, absorbing them into the
traditional Italian vision of the kitchen. (Source: La Cucina
Italiana, July 1957, 603.) 125
5.3 Despite the efforts of manufacturers and advertisers,
consumers responded in different ways to newfangled
American products. Italian consumers happened to be
enthusiastic about margarine—and adopted it as part
of their traditional meals. (Source: La Cucina Italiana,
October 1958, 950.) 129
6.1 Norwegian designers understood both mass production
and plastics technology—despite the controversy surrounding
them. Pictured here: allegedly the world’s first telephone
made entirely from thermoplastics. Designed by Arne E. Holm
and Johan Christian Bjerknes, manufactured by Elektrisk
viii List of Figures
Bureau (1953). Photo: Cato Normann. Courtesy of the
Norwegian Telecom Museum.) 140
6.2 In 1953, the official U.S. design-propaganda machine made
landfall in Scandinavia. Pictured here: the American Design for
Home and Decorative Use exhibit, on the first leg of its tour,
in Oslo. (Photo: Karl Teigen. Courtesy of the Norwegian
Museum of Science and Technology.) 145
6.3 In the 1950s, fiberglass leisure boats emerged as a market
for the Norwegian plastics industry. In this photo,
a Skibsplast Seamaster 15’ (1958), inspired by American boat
magazines, skims the waters of a fjord. (Courtesy of the
Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology.) 147
6.4 The Nordic countries promoted their design internationally.
Perhaps the most celebrated event: Design in Scandinavia—
An Exhibition of Objects for the Home, which toured the
U.S. and Canada from 1954 to 1957. Featured here:
the illustration of a Norwegian interior included in
the introduction to the exhibit catalog. 151
7.1 Dutch tourist organizations frowned on the “American
leisure activities” sponsored by British-run Butlins holiday
camps, featured in this photo. The Dutch feared these
activities would encourage “irresponsible and disorderly
behavior” on the part of working-class tourists. (Courtesy of
Butlins Archives.) 162
7.2 The American hotel represented a decidedly modernist
blueprint, which became controversial in Europe: each
country had its own hotel traditions, standards, and
architecture. Pictured here: a quintessentially American
Statler Hotel room of the 1930s, complete with studio bed.
(Courtesy of Hospitality Industry Archives, University of
Houston.) 164
8.1 This graph shows the flow of non-scheduled civil air traffic
between European countries in 1965. The numbers relate to
units of 100,000 passengers; only volumes of 100,000
passengers appear on the chart. (Source: Arne Rosenberg,
Air Travel within Europe, The National Swedish Consumer
Council [Stockholm: Norstedts, 1970], 22.) 185
9.1 The hostel offered low-cost, communal accommodation
with minimal amenities. Originally, hostels served
List of Figures ix
biking tourists, especially youth. Often, these simple
accommodations were located in rural settings—in this
case, a farm building. (Source: Nordiska museet,
Swedish Tourist Association’s Archive.) 202
9.2 The Swedish Tourist Association’s chairman, Arthur
Lindhagen (in the middle), with the association’s
managing director, Carl-Julius Anrick, and his wife,
Calla Anrick. Taken at the inauguration of the first
Swedish hostel in the town of Gränna: May, 1933.
(Source: Nordiska museet, Swedish
Tourist Association’s Archive.) 210
9.3 These two maps compare the number of “bed nights”—
occupancies—at hostels in Europe and the U.S. in 1949.
The figures reinforce the idea of the hostel as a primarily
European phenomenon. (Source: Uppsala University
Library’s Manuscript Collections, Calla Anrick’s
Archive, box 7.) 212–13
9.4 In the postwar period, the hostel’s “family room”
replaced the hostel dormitory, which had
accommodated men and women in separate rooms.
Aside from being updated in various ways, hostels
remained simple accommodations. (Source:
Svenska Turistföreningens årsbok (2004), 27.) 221