Sunday, February 9, 2014

Part II


Today I’m going to focus on the initial rise in microwaves and its market growth in the 1970s. During the 1970s there was a period of economic growth and expansion, allowing an increase in the middle class and giving those people greater purchasing power. With the rise of new technological knowledge, many devices and products were being created in the Western world (ex. computers, cell phones, medical equipment). With respect to the microwave, this was the period when sales really exploded and more and more people were able to afford one. Once companies were sure that it would catch on in society and create a niche market, they began adding more features and expanding its uses (can anyone say POT ROAST or CHOCOLATE CAKE?!). 


This greater variety allowed microwaves to complete many of the same actions as an oven, giving it the versatility to compete with the other household appliances. The thing that really made it stand apart was its short cooking time; a real selling point in a society based on the capitalist notion that time is money. Capitalism and the driving economy prized efficiency and low cost, giving rise to a fast paced culture of convenience, where everything is made to be easily used and always available, including food. With longer work days and more things to do, no one had time to waste preparing and eating a full home-cooked meal.




The 1960s and early 1970s were also a time of many human rights movements, including the second wave of the feminist movement. These groups fought for equal participation in the workforce and general equality in law and government. This may have affected the rise of the microwave because it was introduced into popular culture at a time when more women were entering the workforce. This change in women’s roles meant that they left the private, domestic sector for the public sphere where they could earn a wage. With respect to food, this meant that they had less time and energy to cook the family’s meals, forcing them to rely more on convenience goods and solutions that took less time (hence; the microwave). The microwave entered culture at the perfect time, where it was able to fulfill the role of an appliance that could cook meals at the press of a button and in less time than everything else. It was promoted as a time saver and something that allowed women to spend more time with their families, instead of slaving away in the kitchen.

The microwave was also inserted into a patriarchal culture that devalued homemaker and cooking skills. Providing food for your family was a male’s role, but actually serving and cooking it was the woman’s responsibility (because goodness knows what would happen if a man was forced to don a frilly apron… oh the horrors). In capitalism, skills that earned you money were more respected, and the patriarchal structure made it so that traditional men’s work (economics, trades, and general business) was more valued than traditional women’s work (raising the kids, cooking and cleaning). So society placed less importance on cooking skills than on getting a job, reinforcing the idea that learning cooking skills would not get you ahead in society. The microwave was the perfect accompaniment to this phenomenon because it allowed people to just press a few buttons to heat up a meal, instead of having to actually cook it. It meant that anyone could make the meal, even kids, and that cooking skills were not a necessary part of a fully functioning household.

All in all, the microwave started to become popular around a time when its attributes became required in society due to its capitalistic values. Society required appliances that saved time, were easy to work and were very versatile, and the microwave delivers. In the next post I'll look as the expansion of the microwave in the 1990s to present day.
 

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