The First Teenagers: The Lifestyle of Young Wage-earners in Interwar Britain

First Published in 1996. The first generation of British teenagers- young people eager to spend a significant proportion of their wages on consumer goods and services such as cosmetics, clothes, magazines, records, motorcycles, cinemas and dance halls- is generally regarded as that of the 1950s and 1960s. The same group, sociologists and economic and social historians have claimed, was the first to enjoy the autonomy in the labour market and to experience low unemployment. This study argues...