The Hidden Face of Consumption: Extending Credit to the Urban Masses in Montreal (1920s–40s)

Abstract

According to many historians and sociologists, mass consumption did not arrive in Canada until the 1950s or even the 1960s. However, this article shows that consumption by low-wage earners in the Canadian metropolis of Montreal was already beginning to transform and expand during the interwar period. As much as consumers, government helped drive these changes by relaxing the legal framework regulating credit practices as well as relations between small debtors and their creditors. The growing use of consumer credit by working-class families was at the heart of these transformations. In this article, the files of depositors placed under the protection of the Lacombe Act provide a unique window on this phenomenon and associated consumer behaviours. An analysis of public debates on the consumer habits of urban workers offers additional insight and context. We advocate for a broad understanding of consumer credit, while rejecting the familiar dichotomy between the consumption of durable goods and the purchase of basic necessities. Necessities and luxuries are constructs that have evolved over time, and the Lacombe files highlight how low-income households combined different sources of credit to incorporate and balance these two types of expenses within their tight budgets.