Lifestyle Revolution: How Taste Changed Class in Late 20th-Century Britain

In postwar Britain, journalists and politicians predicted that the class system would not survive a consumer culture, but they were proved wrong. Lifestyle revolution charts how class culture was remade from flat-pack furniture, Mediterranean cuisine, and lifestyle magazines, with novelists, cartoonists, and playwrights satirizing the tastes of the emerging middle classes and sociologists claiming status anxiety. This was an intimate environment alive with new feelings and attitudes.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 21 February 2023
Publisher: Manchester University Press

In the aftermath of World War II, a prevailing belief among journalists and politicians in postwar Britain was that the class system was destined to crumble under the weight of a consumer culture characterized by widespread television ownership and the proliferation of washing machines. These individuals predicted that the traditional social hierarchies would be eroded as more and more people gained access to these modern conveniences. However, their predictions proved utterly incorrect.

The Lifestyle Revolution delves into the fascinating transformation that occurred in postwar Britain as a result of the rise of mass consumption. Contrary to popular belief, it reveals that class culture, rather than being obliterated, underwent a remarkable remaking. This transformation was driven by a range of factors, including the availability of affordable flat-pack furniture, the popularity of Mediterranean cuisine, and the emergence of lifestyle magazines.

Novelists, cartoonists, and playwrights seized the opportunity to satirize the emerging middle classes and their peculiar tastes. They caricatured their preferences for quiches, mayonnaise, Habitat easy chairs, white emulsion paint, and ubiquitous pine kitchen tables, highlighting the absurdity of their choices. However, beneath the surface of this satire lay a deeper truth: a new order was emerging, constructed from the mundane yet essential elements of everyday life.

This new order was not merely a world of symbolic goods; it was an intimate environment brimming with new feelings and attitudes. The rise of mass consumption had created a sense of belonging and identity among individuals who had previously felt marginalized or excluded. People began to associate their social status with their consumption choices, and the possession of certain brands or products became a marker of distinction and status.

The Lifestyle Revolution offers a poignant reflection on the complex interplay between culture, consumerism, and social change. It demonstrates how the ordinary items of everyday life can shape our perceptions, values, and relationships, and how they can contribute to the construction of a new social order. By exploring the ways in which class culture was remade in the postwar era, this book provides valuable insights into the enduring power of consumerism and the ways in which it continues to shape our world today.

Dimension: 240 x 170 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781526108821