The current literature on consumerism is diverse, scattered, and
unsystematic. This book remedies this by identifying the beginning of
mass consumer society in the United States, starting with the New Deal.
The New Deal framework of guaranteeing new home purchases by means of
low down-payment, fixed-rate home mortgages lasted until the 1970s, at
which time the legal framework unraveled due to a sustained attack on
New Deal racism. Despite this, American consumerism continued and even
flourished without a regulatory structure. This book analyzes seven key
pieces of federal legislation which undergird American consumer society
to this day.