The Menace of Margarine: The Rise and Fall of a Social Problem

Abstract

This paper examines the rise and fall of legislation controlling margarine in the United States in an effort to understand the development of definitions of the substance as a social problem. While instrumental maneuvering by interest groups such as dairy farmers had much to do with the evolution of the problem, the definition of margarine was also affected by expressive, symbolic connotations. These forces were in turn influenced by economic circumstances including business cycles, and by two world wars. Margarine gained in popularity as it found political allies and as nutritionists and home economists, supported by advertising, began to portray it differently. Restrictive legislation was repealed in 1950 after both the Second World War and shifts in the respectability of margarine consumers produced a crisis leading to federal redefinition.