In his 1995 monograph American Plastic,[1] Jeffrey Meikle traces the cultural history of plastics from the invention of celluloid in 1869 up through the opening of Disneyworld in the 1970s, asserting that the “history of plastic…reveals much about American culture of the twentieth century, especially its tendency… of moving toward an inflationary proliferation of experiences.”[2] He begins his account by seeking a historically relevant definition of plastic. He recognizes that a single concrete definition of plastic is likely impossible since not only was the word applied to generally many different types of synthetic materials and concepts, many producers promoted their materials under a trade name. Meikle’s story begins in the mid-nineteenth century when manufacturers were seeking inexpensive alternatives to natural raw materials, particularly ivory and turtle shell. Celluloid provided a cheap substitute which gave mass amounts of people access to formally luxury goods. However, other than the field of photography, celluloid did not really insert plastic into the lives of average Americans. Leo Baekeland, with his invention of Bakelite in 1907 changed that. Bakelite, though initially used as an insulator, soon took on the identity of “the Material of a Thousand Uses”[3] due to a savvy marketing campaign. Almost immediately competitors sought to replicate Bakelite without violating patent. The result was the development of dozens of new synthetic materials and plastic companies and distributors appearing on the national market. Even so, plastic materials did not become common household materials until WWII. With the shortages of raw goods during the war, plastic companies were pressured to create viable substitutes. Additionally, the development of nylon not only gave the plastics industry a more vital role in the military but also made it an essential product for ladies, fundamentally replacing silk stockings. In the 1950’s, America entered a “Plastic Age” where the majority of household products were made out of plastic. In fact, for many products like counter tops, toy soldiers, or food storage containers[4] plastics proved superior to raw materials. However, as plastic became more common “the very nature of things had changed as people adjusted to a disposable world”[5] Plastic began utterly inundated in American art, particularly in the field of art and architecture. However, in the 1960’s, environmental concerns and cultural changes began to associate plastic with negative cultural meaning. Beyond worries about the chemical content in synthetic materials, plastic, as a concept, was associated with artificiality, where natural products were lauded for their authenticity and durability. He concludes his book with a discussion of Disneyworld, showing how the plastic industry folded to the consumers demand for natural goods and resulted in a “technology that can give us more reality than nature can.”[6]
Though, like many other historians of technology Meikle argues that plastic had a considerable effect on American culture, he does not make an argument for technological determinism. For example, he demonstrates that it was not excessive chemical change in Bakelite that made it a household name but rather a publicity campaign conducted by Allan Brown. Additionally, though synthetic materials had the technological capacity to be made into household products like food containers and buttons, it was only the war shortages that made such substitutes necessary for the American public. Like Thomas Hughes in American Genesis,[7] he also shows how widespread acceptance of technology, in this case plastic, influenced art and entertainment, but also how the 1960’s counterculture were adverse to the perceived artificiality of chemical products. Also like many other historians of technology, he shows the role that women played in this history, particularly as harbingers of household consumption and therefore the targets of industry marketing. His scope is extremely wide, covering a century. This means that some areas of text are extremely general. However arguing that plastic is vital to understanding American culture is an extremely novel approach to historical study.
Meikle’s book, though extremely interesting, has a rather unusual structure. In the first few chapters, he focuses on individual chemists and their ambitions as well as their technological processes. However, as the book progresses, he focuses more on American attitudes towards plastic, industrial business strategies and the constant assortment of new available products. However, this does not weaken his overall argument. In fact, since industrial chemistry was still a relatively new industry at the start of the twentieth century which experienced a rapid explosion, it is understandable that he could only focus on a few figures at the start of his book and then branch outward later in the text. Additionally, by pairing examinations of company records from businesses like Du Pont and Condensite with writing from literary figures like Norman Malier he shows the extreme contradiction of a society which professed to hate plastics yet still were avid consumers. Though he does not address many types of synthetics like rayon, Meikles book is generally a very interesting and comprehensive history of plastic, vital for historians of technology or business.
[1] Meikle, Jeffrey L. 1995. American plastic: a cultural history. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
[2] Ibid 9
[3] Ibid 31
[4] Ibid 175, 180
[5] Ibid 179
[6] Ibid 283
[7] Hughes, Thomas Parke. 1989. American genesis: a century of invention and technological enthusiasm, 1870-1970. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking.
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