In search of survey results. Consumption as seen by the Young Women’s Christian Workers in the 1950s

The 34th National Council of the Young Women’s Christian Workers (Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne féminine, JOCF) was held in July 1959. An annual report was presented, based on a survey organised between September 1958 and June 1959 on the theme “Money and Skills in the Working Class”. This paper focuses on this survey, which is presented as a typical example of Young Christian Workers (JOC) and Young Women’s Christian Workers (JOCF) surveys from the 1930s to the 1950s. We look at its method, as illustrated by the documents. This paper also examines the unique circumstances of the 1950s and 1960s, which had an impact on the way data was processed in the movement, and references ideas by two sociologists. Starting as an investigation of the sources of the history of consumption, the paper then becomes a “survey of the survey” and a discussion of the kind of data produced by the JOC and the JOCF.