Material nation : a consumer's history of modern Italy / Emanuela Scarpellini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scarpellini, Emanuela.

Standardized Title:

Italia dei consumi. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Italy--History.

Consumption (Economics).

Consumers--Italy--History.

Consumers.

Consumption (Economics)--Government policy.

History.

Italy--Economic conditions.

Italy.

Economic conditions.

Consumption (Economics)--Government policy--Italy--History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 343 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Summary:

In this fresh, unfamiliar, and sometimes surprising picture of modern Italy, history is refracted through the prism of the nation's consumer culture. What were Italians eating and drinking over this period? Where did they live? What did they do in their leisure time? What did they choose to spend their spare money on? And how did this differ between different economic classes and over time?

From the battle against poverty conducted by the first liberal governments of a united Italy, to fascist autarchy, up to the emergence of welfare policies and today's multifaceted society, Emanuela Scarpellini looks at how the material culture associated with consumption has structured Italian life. Combining economic and cultural history with a vivid narrative style, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of modern Italy and of consumption more generally in the last century and a half. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Liberal Italy

1 Italian Society from Unification to the Belle Époque 3

Country of a thousand faces 3

Peasants 8

Industrial workers 14

Middle classes 25

Aristocracy 35

2 The State and Public Consumption 47

3 The World of Production 56

4 Commercial Spaces 67

Markets and shops 71

Department stores: a European model? 75

Part II Fascism

5 The Regime 83

Autarchy, gender, race 85

Emigration 90

Fascist consumption policy 92

Collective consumption 98

6 Daily Life during Fascism 105

Home 106

Transport 114

Popular department stores 117

Part III The Economic Miracle

7 Society during the Golden Age of Capitalism 125

The consumer revolution 125

Immigrants 135

Women (and men) 145

Young people 165

8 Politics, Culture, and Welfare State 176

9 Advertising and Production 191

10 Large-scale Distribution and 'American' Supermarkets 209

Supermarkets 209

Part IV The Affluent Society

11 Impact of the Consumer Society 225

From the 1970s to the new millennium: light and shade 225

Politics and consumerism 242

New products 244

The limits and costs of consumption 250

12 Contemporary Everyday Life 255

Fashion and the body 255

Private and public space 259

The new commercial places 263.

Notes:

First published in Italian as L'Italia dei consumi: dalla Belle époque al nuovo millennio.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199589579

0199589577

OCLC:

670482257