rs because there is little evidence that they saw themselves as producers prior to the Twentieth Century. In addition, while it is true that Americans did transform from producers to consumers during the Twentieth Century, it seems unlikely that this change in and of itself brought about a new definition of success. Prior to the Twentieth Century, most Americans were concerned with subsistence, producing enough basic necessities to sustain the lives of themselves and their families. A large number were engaged in some sort of agricultural work, usually growing enough for their families and selling the excess. But even during the early part of the Nineteenth Century many Americans did not grow their own food; instead they worked for money, using their earnings to buy food, clothing, and shelter. Their wages were low enough that they spent almost all of their earnings on these necessities. While there were many Americans who were wealthy and could afford luxuries, the vast majority were not and could not. There was probably little notion of success in life, aside from the few examples of wealthy growers and merchants. If there was any change in the idea of success, it came from the possibilities of rapidly acquired financial wealth which appeared with the onset of industrialization in the late Nineteenth Century. These possibilities, however, merely reinforced dreams of wealth which had existed throughout human history since the advent of trade.
The first problem with the stated interpretation is that there is little evidence that Americans identified themselves as producers or consumers. This change in identification presupposes that individual Americans perceived an overall change in the national economy during this time period. This interpretation latches onto the popular notion that the American economy was overwhelmingly based upon agriculture up until the Twentieth Century and that American families generally produced...