ABSTRACT

From mid 1950s to the early 1970s, Danish society went through drastic changes, and this period has been called the prolonged 1950s. From the post-war shortage society emerged a growth, consumer, and welfare society. Two decades of economic growth with the highest growth rates ever, fuelled by cheap oil deliveries from the Middle East. Growth was a lever for progress and a new lifestyle: cars, single-family houses in suburbs, consumer goods, travels, and use-and-throw-away attitudes. Consumptive ways of living were democratized through price reductions, redistribution, and trickle-down effects. At the end of the period environmental critique emerged of overconsumption – pollution, problematic new technologies, waste problems, and future resource shortage.