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Marketing mass home ownership and the creation of the modern working-class consumer in inter-war Britain

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  • Peter Scott

Abstract

During the 1930s the British building industry and building society movement waged an aggressive campaign to sell the idea of home ownership to a new mass market. A number of sophisticated marketing strategies were employed to transform the popular image of a mortgage from 'a millstone round your neck' to a key element of a new, suburbanized, aspirational lifestyle. Despite opportunistic behaviour by some developers, the spectacular success of this campaign both contributed to the fastest rate of growth in working-class owner-occupation during the twentieth century and had a substantial impact on consumption patterns for families that moved to the new estates.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Scott, 2008. "Marketing mass home ownership and the creation of the modern working-class consumer in inter-war Britain," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 4-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:50:y:2008:i:1:p:4-25
    DOI: 10.1080/00076790701785581
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Leo Grebler & David M. Blank & Louis Winnick, 1956. "Capital Formation in Residential Real Estate: Trends and Prospects," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number greb56-1.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kersty Hobson, 2020. "‘Small stories of closing loops’: social circularity and the everyday circular economy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 99-116, November.
    2. Peter Scott, 2009. "Mr Drage, Mr Everyman, and the creation of a mass market for domestic furniture in interwar Britain1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(4), pages 802-827, November.
    3. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Noguchi, Masayoshi, 2011. "Auditors and the supervision of retail finance: evidence from two small-sized building societies, 1976-1978," MPRA Paper 32193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Noguchi, Masayoshi, 2011. "Improving the system of internal control through regulation: cases of small-sized building societies, circa 1960," MPRA Paper 28564, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Pierre Volle, 2011. "Marketing : comprendre l'origine historique," Post-Print halshs-00638621, HAL.

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