The Making of the Consumer: Knowledge, Power and Identity in the Modern World

by Frank Trentmann (Editor)

Overview

We constantly hear about 'the consumer'. The 'consumer' has become a ubiquitous person in public discourse and academic research, but who is this person? The Making of the Consumer is the first interdisciplinary study that follows the evolution of the consumer in the modern world, ranging from imperial Britain to contemporary Papua New Guinea, and from the European Union to China. It makes a novel contribution by broadening the study of consumption from a focus on goods and symbols to the changing role and identity of consumers. Offering a historically informed picture of the rise of the consumer to its current prominence, authors discuss the consumer in relation to citizenship and ethics, law and economics, media, work and retailing.Contributors include: Donald Winch (University of Sussex)Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London)Vanessa Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London)Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (CNRS: Centre de Recherches Historiques, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)Michelle Everson (Birkbeck College, University of London)Erika Rappaport (University of California, Santa Barbara)Uwe Spiekermann (Georg-August University, Gttingen)Jos Gamble (Royal Holloway University)Stephen Kline (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)Frank Mort (University of Manchester)Ina Merkel (Philipps-Universitt, Marburg, Germany)James G. Carrier (Indiana University and Oxford Brookes University)Ben Fine (SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845202491
Publisher:	Berg Publishers
Publication date:	11/01/2005
Series:	Cultures of Consumption Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Frank Trentmann is Professor of Modern History at Birkbeck College, London, and Director of the Cultures of Consumption Research Programme (ESRC-AHRC).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Knowing Consumers: Histories, Identities, Practices—Frank Trentmann * The Problematic Status of the Consumer in Orthodox Economics Thought—Donald Winch * From Users to Consumers: Water Politics in Nineteenth-Century London—Frank Trentmann and Vanessa Taylor * Women and the Ethics of Consumption in France at the Turban of the Twentieth Century—Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel * Legal Constructions of the Consumer—Michelle Everson * Packaging China: Foreign Articles and Dangerous Tastes in the Mid-Victorian Tea Party—Erika Rappaport * From Neighbour to Consumer: The Transformation of Retailer-Consumer relationships in Twentieth-Century Germany—Uwe Spiekermann * Consumers with Chinese Characteristics? Local Customers in British and Japanese Multinational Stores in Contemporary China—Jos Gamble * A Becoming Subject: Consumer Socialization in the Mediated Marketplace—Stephen Kline * Competing Domains: Democratic Subjects and Consuming Subjects in Britain and the United States since 1945—Frank Mort * From Stigma to Cult: Changing Meanings in East German Consumer culture—Ina Merkel * The Limits of Culture: Political Economy and the Anthropology of Consumption—James Carrier * Addressing the Consumer—Ben Fine

Editorial Reviews

"At a time when it has become commonplace to accept 'the consumer' as a timeless and neutral concept, it is vital to question just when and how this particular figure appeared. An exciting and important collection that leads consumption studies forward into new territory, this book offers highly relevant and engaged social science which will have a broad appeal." --Richard Wilk, Indiana University

From the Publisher

At a time when it has become commonplace to accept 'the consumer' as a timeless and neutral concept, it is vital to question just when and how this particular figure appeared. An exciting and important collection that leads consumption studies forward into new territory, this book offers highly relevant and engaged social science which will have a broad appeal.

Indiana University Richard Wilk