The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England

The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England
Author: Joanne Sear
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2020-01-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000765709

The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England explores the rise of consumerism from the end of the medieval period through to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The book takes a detailed look at when the 'consumer revolution' began, tracing its evolution from the years following the Black Death through to the nineteenth century. In doing so, it also considers which social classes were included, and how different areas of the country were affected at different times, examining the significant role that location played in the development of consumption. This new study is based upon the largest database of English probate records yet assembled, which has been used in conjunction with a range of other sources to offer a broad and detailed chronological approach. Filling in the gaps within previous research, it examines changing patterns in relation to food and drink, clothing, household furnishings and religion, focussing on the goods themselves to illuminate items in common ownership, rather than those owned only by the elite. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence to explore the development of consumption, The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England will be of great use to scholars and students of late medieval and early modern economic and social history, with an interest in the development of consumerism in England.

The Consumer Revolution, 1650–1800

The Consumer Revolution, 1650–1800
Author: Michael Kwass
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2022-02-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521198704

A bold new interpretation of 'consumer revolution' in 18th-century Europe, examining globalization and the politics of consumption in the age of Revolution.

Cato's Letters

Cato's Letters
Author: John Trenchard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1748
Genre: Church and state
ISBN:

The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective

The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective
Author: Robert C. Allen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 13
Release: 2009-04-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521868270

Why did the industrial revolution take place in 18th century Britain and not elsewhere in Europe or Asia? Robert Allen argues that the British industrial revolution was a successful response to the global economy of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Luxury and Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Luxury and Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Author: Maxine Berg
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2005-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 019153403X

In this book, Maxine Berg explores the invention, making, and buying of new, semi-luxury, and fashionable consumer goods during the eighteenth century. It follows these goods, from china tea ware to all sorts of metal ornaments such as candlesticks, cutlery, buckles, and buttons, as they were made and shopped for, then displayed in the private domestic settings of Britain's urban middling classes. It tells the stories and analyses the developments that led from a global trade in Eastern luxuries beginning in the sixteenth century to the new global trade in British-made consumer goods by the end of the eighteenth century. These new products, regarded as luxuries by the rapidly growing urban and middling-class people of the eighteenth century, played an important part in helping to proclaim personal identities,and guide social interaction. Customers enjoyed shopping for them; they took pleasure in their beauty, ingenuity or convenience. All manner of new products appeared in shop windows; sophisticated mixed-media advertising seduced customers and created new wants. This unparalleled 'product revolution' provoked philosophers and pundits to proclaim a 'new luxury', one that reached out to the middling and trading classes, unlike the elite and corrupt luxury of old. Luxury and Pleasure in Eighteenth Century Britain is cultural history at its best, built on a fresh empirical base drawn directly from customs accounts, advertising material, company papers, and contemporary correspondence. Maxine Berg traces how this new consumer society of the eighteenth century and the products first traded, then invented to satisfy it, stimulated industrialization itself. Global markets for the consumer goods of private and domestic life inspired the industrial revolution and British products 'won the world'.

The Industrious Revolution

The Industrious Revolution
Author: Jan de Vries
Publisher:
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2008-05-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521719254

This 2008 book traces the evolution of an 'industrious revolution' that fundamentally altered the material cultures of Europe and North America.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption
Author: Frank Trentmann
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 720
Release: 2012-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191624349

The term 'consumption' covers the desire for goods and services, their acquisition, use, and disposal. The study of consumption has grown enormously in recent years, and it has been the subject of major historiographical debates: did the eighteenth century bring a consumer revolution? Was there a great divergence between East and West? Did the twentieth century see the triumph of global consumerism? Questions of consumption have become defining topics in all branches of history, from gender and labour history to political history and cultural studies. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Consumption offers a timely overview of how our understanding of consumption in history has changed in the last generation, taking the reader from the ancient period to the twenty-first century. It includes chapters on Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America, brings together new perspectives, highlights cutting-edge areas of research, and offers a guide through the main historiographical developments. Contributions from leading historians examine the spaces of consumption, consumer politics, luxury and waste, nationalism and empire, the body, well-being, youth cultures, and fashion. The Handbook also showcases the different ways in which recent historians have approached the subject, from cultural and economic history to political history and technology studies, including areas where multidisciplinary approaches have been especially fruitful.

Consumer Culture

Consumer Culture
Author: Roberta Sassatelli
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2007-05-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781412911818

'Roberta Sassatelli has written a thorough and wide-ranging synthetic account of social scientific research on consumption which will set the standard for the second generation of textbooks on cultures of consumption. Consumer Culture is an appealing and lucid introduction to the major themes - historical and contemporary, theoretical and empirical - surrounding the growth, nature and consequences of consumer culture. It will be of professional interest as well as serving a student audience' - Alan Warde, University of Manchester Showing the cultural and institutional processes that have brought the notion of the 'consumer' to life, this book guides the reader on a comprehensive journey through the history of how we have come to understand ourselves as consumers in a consumer society and reveals the profound ambiguities and ambivalences inherent within. While rooted in sociology, Sassatelli draws on the traditions of history, anthropology, geography and economics to give: - A history of the rise of consumer culture around the world; - A richly illustrated analysis of theory from neo-classical economics, to critical theory, to theories of practice and ritual de-commoditization; and - A compelling discussion of the politics underlying our consumption practices. An exemplary introduction to the history and theory of consumer culture, this book provides nuanced answers to some of the most central questions of our time.