Obtaining stability:

Peoples drive to
secure social class &
position in the 1920s
Dahlia

P: Body image has proven to be a central
concern for people in the 1920s ultimately
affecting their social behavior in the attempt
to secure their position.


E: “Sure I did. I was going to wear it tonight,
but it was too big in the bust and had to be
altered. It was a gas blue with lavender
beads. Two hundred and sixty-five dollars.”
(The Great Gatsby, 48)

P: “…the profound subjective dissatisfaction
with their body image that is evident and
prevalent among, young women in particular.”
(Heunemann et al., 1966)

I: By attempting to mold one’s self into the
unofficial, socially regulated idea for body
image and how one should look, people lose
sight in their own accepted beliefs on how
they should look and eventually give into
social corruption of all forms.

P: Leisurely time serves as an opportunity for
people in a particular social class, particularly
upper, to show society their wealth, and to
prove and establish their social standing
through monetary amounts.

E: “The first supper – there would be another
after midnight – was now being served…” (The
Great Gatsby, 48)

P: The upper class had the greatest wealth and
control of time. They used leisure activities
for fun and social prestige by participating in
and financing expensive high-status pastimes.
Parties, clubs, and sports dominated their
social calendar, (Chicago Historical Society).

I: Time that is take out of the day for leisurely
activities in itself contradict the original
objective for leisure. The wealthy society
work toward proving their social standings by
showing off with their “down time”
capabilities.

P: Society in the 1920s take hold of all
opportunities to use materialism to show
others their privileged lifestyles in the effort
to prove themselves socially.

E: “Evidently he lived in this vicinity for he told
me that he had just bought a hydroplane and
was going to try it out in the morning.” (The
Great Gatsby, 52)

P: “Obviously, besides cultural and historical
differences in the tendency toward
materialism, there are also individual
differences in the manifestation of
materialism.” (Materialism: Trait Aspects of
Living in the Material World, 265)

I: “Having the most this, buying the most
expensive that..” Members of society dilute
themselves into believing that obtaining the
best of the best through materialism puts
them at their suited social level, but it
ultimately brainwashes and changes lifestyles
through the effort.

The complete and total drive put into
social stability by members of society by using
body image, leisure, and materialism proves
to have lasting effects on lifestyles in negative
ways. The effort in proving social place dilutes
the mind and effects the accustomed
normalcy in people of the 1920s.
 Work cited
A Century of Work and Leisure. 02nd ed. Vol. 01. American
Economic Association. 189-224. Print.
The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Print.
Leisure. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2005. Web.

Dec. 2009.
<http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2465.h
tml>.
Materialism: Trait Aspects of Living in the Material World.

The University of Chicago Press, Dec. 1985. Web. Dec. 2009.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/254373>.