The Standardized Civilization In our modern day of industrialization and mass advertising, we have gained great access to more and more services and products. The question is: are we now living in an advanced civilization with the resources available to aid each citizen to express his individuality and achieve his full potential like never before? Or have we become one uniformed mass culture, programmed to adhere to the standards of civilization? A look at first the origin and consequent result of scientific management through the eyes of Stuart Ewen and Frederick Taylor; and then the cause and effect of mass advertising through the viewpoints of Tom Vanderbilt and The Economist, will address this issue in a comprehensive manner.
It is imperative to first ask why mass production and advertising are considered the integral contributors to this debate. The answer lies in the many parallel qualities that exist between workers and consumers.
Consolidated TB-32 production line
English: Frederick Winslow Taylor lived from 1856 ...
English: Slide rule created by Carl G. Barth, a co...Of special interest to this discussion is the idea that the worker is the consumer, and that both as a worker and a consumer, he is "malleable"ÃÂ to the demands of the production line (Ewen 26). To develop my argument, I will first look at what brought the need for scientific management in the factories "ÃÂ production maximization through Frederick Taylor's point of view as expressed in his book: The Principles of Scientific Management. Then I will examine how mass production caused the need for mass advertisement "ÃÂ consumption maximization through the eyes of Stuart Ewen in his essay: Captains of Consciousness. Thirdly, I will look at how Tom Vanderbilt, in his essay: The Advertised Life, supports Ewen's believe that advertising have come to control our ways of life. And lastly, I will explore why The Economist takes the complete opposite stand to Ewen and Vanderbilt with their...