The experience of consumption among the current Third Age is unique in that their early years were spent in households subject to rationing and restriction as noted in Chapter 2 (Section 2.4.1iii). Their experience since then has been of improving, if fluctuating, economic conditions which, by the beginning of the 21st Century, have supported the creation of a consumer society (Jones et al 2008: 57).
From the mid-1950s onwards there were long periods of continuous economic
expansion providing increasing employment and larger household incomes. Galbraith (1962) writing in the late 1950s, explained how economists perceived the growth of a consumption based eeonomy as a continuation of the production process which was essential for providing economic security. His observations were based on the US experience following the 1930s slump and depression but provide an equally valid description of the emergence of the UK economy after the Second World War. He explains that:
Economie theory has managed to transfer the sense of urgeney in meeting eonsumer need that once was felt in a world where more production meant more food for the hungry, more elothing for the cold and more houses for the
homeless to a world where increased output satisfies the craving for more elegant cars, more exotic food, more erotic clothing, more elaborate
entertainment - indeed for the entire modem range of sensuous, edifying and lethal desires. (Galbraith 1962:121)
When Laslett (1991) first defined the Third Age he argued that it should be
considered as a period of ‘self fulfilment’ and a time of ‘self-realization’. His proposal for the University of the Third Age suggested that personal identity in retirement would be defined through educational and cultural pursuits. Other commentators, such as Vincent (1999), have since remarked that adult identities have changed during the life course of the current Third Age and individuals may now define themselves as ‘eonsumers’ rather than by their
profession or trade.
As a result of the expanding role played by consumption in modem mass soeieties, adult identities now are being defined as much by how people spend their time and money as by the goods and service they can produce. Increasing numbers of retired people are able to participate in this consumer culture, and in doing so are creating new possibilities of being ‘old’. (Vincent 1999:48) Phillipson (1998:116) noted that, with the strong indication that later life was changing, companies with commercial interests began developing the age 50+ market, particularly those such as specialist retirement magazines, holiday companies and retirement communities. He thought that the prospect of two different pattems of later life was emerging.
On the one hand older people could adopt lifestyles built around new pattems of consumption. On the other hand there was a broader notion of the retired entering a period of greater fulfilment with engagement in educational and cultural activities becoming an important aspect of their lives.
(Phillipson 1998:116) The gradual introduction of market driven methods of production and distribution during the mid life course of the current Third Age provided an increasingly plentiful supply of goods and services allowing the consumer the luxury of choice. It also provided a dilemma for the new consumer of knowing which brand or product provided the best value particularly for those with a limited budget. In 1957 the newly formed Consumers Association published the magazine Which? that provided the latest information and advice for eonsumers on a wide range of domestic products and brands. It has continued to do so throughout the life course of the current Third Age.
The deregulation of essential household utility services, such as gas and electricity was implemented in the late 1990s. The introduetion of choice into this important component of household spending was a completely new phenomenon for those currently in the Third
Age. Most utility services had previously been supplied by state owned monopolies since nationalisation in 1947 and the introduction of choice was considered by some to provide an opportunity for saving money on a basic household requirements. Which? (2013) was particularly helpful in providing information and advice on the various utility suppliers and particularly on how to change suppliers.
From the early 21st century the full range of goods and serviees of a consumer society, based largely on digital technology has been available to a majority of consumers. Jones et al (2008) point out that many items, which previously were expensive and difficult to obtain, have become affordable consumer products during the life course of the Third Age.
Unlike earlier examples of consumption where ownership was confined to particular groups or strata the modem mass markets have maximised penetration for the population as a whole.
Car ownership which was a minority experience in the 1960’s has like telephone and TV crossed a boundary from being a luxury
consumer good to an essential household item and thus beeome normative. (Jones et al, 2008:57)
A further development in consumption practice has been the rapid development of the intemet as a purchasing medium for a wide range of eommodities, including, most recently in the 21st century, food. Ritzer (2008) noted how the intemet in the USA had been
appropriated by commercial enterprises and has added to the potential eonsumption opportunities available from the individual’s home.
The Intemet has also greatly increased shopping efficieney. For example instead of travelling to a book superstore or wandering from one small bookshop to another you can access Amazon.com and have over a million different titles at your fingertips. After selecting and charging the titles you want you just sit back and wait for the titles to be delivered to your door.
(Ritzer 2008: 64)
Although Jones et al (2008), as quoted above, noted the ‘maximised penetration’ o f modem mass markets which have enabled even those on moderate incomes to become consumers they do not discuss a key reason for the expansion of consumption which could be the availability of credit.
3.4.1. Introduction o f credit
A marked contrast to the parental family of origin of those currently in the Third Age has been the introduction of credit as a means of enhancing the spending capacity of the
household. Galbraith (1962) commented on the American post-1930s experience o f the need to create demand in order to stimulate the economy. He suggested that having manufactured a
product, then advertised its merits, the provision of credit for the potential consumer was an inevitable aspect of the consumption process.
It would be surprising indeed if a society that is prepared to spend thousands of millions to persuade people of their wants were to fail to take the further step of financing these wants and were it not then to go on to persuade people of the ease and desirability of incurring debt to make these wants effective.
(Galbraith 1962: 167) It is worth noting that Galbraith understood the debt creation process and its potential danger. His comment appears somewhat prophetic viewed with hindsight some fifty years later.
The immediate danger in the way wants are now created lies in the related process of debt creation. Consumer demand thus comes to depend more and more on the ability and willingness of consumers to incur debt. And there are aspects of this debt creation which are inherently unstable.
(Galbraith 1962: 166) Manning (2000), commenting on the use of credit in the United States at the end of the 20th century, saw the consequences of the ‘credit revolution’ whieh tended to bear out Galbraith’s cautionary approach. He considered that credit use was:
One of the most profound social and cultural revolutions of the post-World War II era: the ascendance of the consumer credit society, which both masks social status differences and exacerbates the widening chasm of U.S. post industrial inequality. (Manning 2000: 2)
Credit, therefore, provided the opportunity for more people to enjoy a standard of material well being which they would not have obtained if they were solely reliant on their actual income. At the same time a false impression of equality of income and social status through possessions may be obtained potentially obscuring the differences in real income.
In the UK, the American experience was re-created, albeit slowly, after the end of rationing and the recovery of the economy in the late 1950s and 1960s. The influence of market forces increased the demand for changes in the eonsumer credit laws which were seen as restricting the growth of the domestic economy. The effect of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 was to allow the domestic consumer easier access to credit through the less restrietive use of hire purchase agreements and credit cards. Different forms of eredit became available but the most popular and most easily aecessible form was through credit cards.
3.4.2. Credit and Debit Cards
Easy access to credit became available through the use of plastic credit cards, first freely distributed in the UK in 1966. Their use was limited for some time as retailers and consumers accustomed themselves to the new phenomena. Pahl (1989) did not mention the use of eredit cards in her research during the mid-1980s for her book on money and marriage. However, her survey on the use of plastic cards in the mid 1990s, (Pahl 1999), revealed that there had been a considerable increase in the use of credit and debit cards during the 1980s and 1990s.
Ritzer (2006) suggested that an advantage of credit cards was that they helped to maintain a predictable, smoother pattern of consumption for the individual trying to avoid difficult moments of cash flow.
Before credit cards people had to spend more slowly or even stop consuming altogether when cash on hand or in the bank dipped too low. The credit card frees consumers, at least to some degree from the unpredictability
associated with cash-flow and the absence of cash on hand. (Ritzer 2006:224) The ease and efficiency of credit cards as projected by Ritzer would have been expected to appeal to all who had previously had to manage their household transactions solely with cash and cheques. Pahl (1999) used focus groups in her survey of UK couples, finding that
although there were strong supporters of credit cards many people preferred the ‘safer’ debit card which related to ‘real’ money in their bank or savings account.
Those who were sceptical about credit cards were often concerned about the possibility of getting into debt and felt that they were safer with a debit card than a credit card. Many felt that other forms of money [cheques, cash] allowed them to maintain a better check on the state of their finances. (Pahl 1999:21)
Pahl also found that retired people, in the mid 1990s, tended not to participate in the credit card economy.
This may be partly a result of low income and creditworthiness. But it may also be a consequence of a laek of finaneial confidence in new
forms of money and of a general mistrust of getting into debt. (Pahl 1999:33) Although senior citizens in the United States did not use credit eards in the late 1990s they appeared to have similar feelings to those in the sample interviewed by Pahl. Manning (2000) found that U.S. senior citizens were in 1998, an exception in a society that generally
depended on credit for consumer purchases. They still held a strong ethical approach to accumulated debt, considering it to be a social stigma.
Even after they complete their work careers the generational influences of the Great Depression continue to shape their abhorrence of personal debt of any
kind. For most U.S. seniors debt is a sign of personal failure - either
professionally or behaviourally. Members of this generation, whieh endured the sacrifices of eeonomic eatastrophe and wartime rationing, reeognize that they cannot control the impact of larger trends on their lives (e.g.
unemployment, war) but they can discipline their personal consumption urges. (Manning 2000: 262)
Although the exact age of the ‘retired’ in Pahl’s mid-1990s survey is not known it would appear that there is a difference in attitudes to credit and eredit card use between the younger and older generations in both the UK and the US. The older generation in the mid 1990s showed a greater fear of incurring debt through the use of credit and displayed a strong determination to avoid it.