Overview

In twentieth-century Britain, consumerism increasingly defined and redefined individual and social identities. New types of consumers emerged: the idealized working-class consumer, the African consumer and the teenager challenged the prominent position of the middle and upper-class female shopper. Linking politics and pleasure, Consuming Behaviours explores how individual consumers and groups reacted to changes in marketing, government control, popular leisure and the availability of consumer goods. From football to male fashion, tea to savings banks, leading scholars consider a wide range of products, ideas and services and how these were marketed to the British public through periods of imperial decline, economic instability, war, austerity and prosperity. The development of mass consumer society in Britain is examined in relation to the growing cultural hegemony and economic power of the United States, offering comparisons between British consumption patterns and those of other nations. Bridging the divide between historical and cultural studies approaches, Consuming Behaviours discusses what makes British consumer culture distinctive, while acknowledging how these consumer identities are inextricably a product of both Britain's domestic history and its relationship with its Empire, with Europe and with the United States.

Full Product Details

Author:   Erika D. Rappaport ,  Trudgen Dawson Sandra ,  Mark J. Crowley
Publisher:   A & C Black Publishers Ltd (Digital)
Imprint:   Berg Publishers
ISBN:  

9780857855305

ISBN 10:   0857855301
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   30 July 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Electronic book text
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Consuming Behaviours: Identity, Politics and Pleasure in Twentieth-Century Britain Erika D. Rappaport, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; Sandra Trudgen Dawson, Northern Illinois University, USA; Mark J. Crowley, Wuhan University, China Part I: Gender, Sexuality and Youth: Cultivating and Managing New Consumers 2. Who is the Queer Consumer? Historical Perspectives on Capitalism and Homosexuality Justin Bengry, Birkbeck, University of London, UK 3. 'Healthier and Better Clothes for Men': Men's Dress Reform in Interwar Britain Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska, University of Illinois, USA 4. Selling, Consuming and Becoming the Beautiful Man in Britain: The 1930s and 1940s Paul Deslandes, University of Vermont, USA 5. Rational Recreation in the Age of Affluence: The Cafe and Working-Class Youth in London, c.1939-1965 Kate Bradley, University of Kent, UK 6. Teenagers, Photography and Self-fashioning: 1956-1965 Penny Tinkler, University of Manchester, UK 7. Unwanted Consumers: Violence and Consumption in British Football in the 1970s Brett Bebber, Old Dominion University, USA Part II: In and Beyond the Nation: The Local and the Global in the Production of Consumer Cultures 8. Consumer Communication as Commodity: British Advertising Agencies and the Global Market for Advertising 1780-1980 Stefan Schwarzkopf, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark 9. Drink Empire Tea: Conservative Politics and Imperial Consumerism in Interwar Britain Erika D. Rappaport, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA 10. Female Credit Customers, the United Africa Company, and Consumer Markets in Postwar Ghana, Bianca Murillo, Willamette University, USA 11. Designing Consumer Society: Citizens and Housing Plans during the Second World War, Sandra Trudgen Dawson, Northern Illinois University, USA 12. Saving for the Nation: The Post Office and National Consumerism: c.1860-1945 Mark J. Crowley, Wuhan University, China 13. Prosperity for All? Britain and Mass Consumption in Western Europe after the Second World War Kenneth Moure, University of Alberta, Canada 14. A House Divided: The Organized Consumer and the British Labour Party, 1945-60 Peter Gurney, University of Essex, UK 15. Early British Television: The Allure and Threat of America Kelly Boyd, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, UK Bibliography Index

Reviews

A stimulating volume that reveals the dynamism of consumer identities and lifestyles in Britain and its Empire before Americanisation. -- Frank Trentmann, Birkbeck, University of London, UK and editor of The Oxford Handbook of the History Consumption Consuming Behaviours presents cutting-edge research on consumption in twentieth-century Britain. In putting together these fine, well-researched essays, Rappaport, Dawson and Crowley complicate our understandings of what affluence meant to ordinary citizens and show just how important products and their uses were to people's identities and social lives. -- Matthew Hilton, University of Birmingham, UK Consuming Behaviours is destined to become a key text for scholars and students alike. Covering an amazing array of topics, it assembles a stellar selection of leading historians and above all, showcases conceptual rigor and an empirical range of histories of consumption. -- Lawrence Black, University of York, UK

Author Information

Erika Rappaport is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. Sandra Trudgen Dawson is an Instructor of History and Women's Studies at Northern Illinois University,USA. Mark J. Crowley is an Associate Professor in the School of History, Wuhan University, China.

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