FROM THE AMERICAN SYSTEM TO MASS PRODUCTION 1800-1932
By David A. Hounshell
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984, 411 pages
Reviewed by Michael Beach
Businesses depicted in the book in question had to struggle with getting their product available at a price affordable by people, and the increase in demand that price setting can cause. Lower price breeds more demand. More demand requires lowering costs to remain sustainable and competitive as a company. Sometimes increased demand was the result of a single large customer, the U.S. government. This system of customer demand fueled by lowering costs and increased marketing created a natural evolution toward mass production. In a number of cases this cycle is depicted in the text by a number of annual product output reports showing ever increasing numbers of products manufactured/sold. Based on the examples given here is a sort of matrix of my own depicting some of the evolution mentioned in the book:
Although the book does show some political influence in the system supporting this migration, the strongest arguments seem to be economic. Governments are often shown as a customer, though there are a few regulatory examples. Other books I’ve read so far have attempted to show a larger number of stakeholder depictions in the documented systems. Like sections in American Genesis, there are overarching cultural themes examined in the chapter titled The Ethos of Mass Production & Its Critics. For example on page 316 Upton Sinclair is quoted as saying mass production “should be shown in Museums of Unnatural History.” The argument was also shown in both works that when man puts nature in order then something of beauty or aesthetic is lost. People become efficiently unhappy. To keep product delivery quantity high it is difficult to make changes, constantly offering new models. Not offering new models can cause drop in sales. The tendency is to keep models static for as long as possible leading to a more sterile societal experience.
It’s not clear to me who the intended audience would be for this work. For scholars, there are patterns that can be identified such as the productivity evolution I mentioned earlier (see the table). The histories of various industries with specific business examples is helpful in seeing how each business evolved, or failed to, and how each business was impacted. Like many of the works I’ve been reading, the major issues are raised, but probably never really answered. What does mass production mean? Is it delivering to the masses? Is it delivering large quantities? Does an increased need cause increased demand and increased production, or does increased production and marketing cause an corresponding increase in demand? In either case, stating the generalized questions, then sharing specific examples, followed by critiques of the issues is a reasonable way to approach a topic like this. For me as a reader, getting both the ideas and the examples is helpful.
It’s not clear to me who the intended audience would be for this work. For scholars, there are patterns that can be identified such as the productivity evolution I mentioned earlier (see the table). The histories of various industries with specific business examples is helpful in seeing how each business evolved, or failed to, and how each business was impacted. Like many of the works I’ve been reading, the major issues are raised, but probably never really answered. What does mass production mean? Is it delivering to the masses? Is it delivering large quantities? Does an increased need cause increased demand and increased production, or does increased production and marketing cause an corresponding increase in demand? In either case, stating the generalized questions, then sharing specific examples, followed by critiques of the issues is a reasonable way to approach a topic like this. For me as a reader, getting both the ideas and the examples is helpful.
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