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

Peter Scott

Business History, 2008, vol. 50, issue 1, 4-25

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.

Keywords: marketing; housing; consumption; owner-occupation; building industry; building societies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1080/00076790701785581

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