Selling to the masses : retailing in Russia, 1880-1930 / Marjorie L. Hilton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hilton, Marjorie L. (Marjorie Louise), 1961-

Series:

Series in Russian and East European studies

Pitt series in Russian and East European studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Retail trade--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--19th century.

Retail trade.

Retail trade--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--20th century.

Retail trade--Soviet Union.

Shopping.

History.

Consumption (Economics).

Soviet Union.

Consumption (Economics)--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--19th century.

Consumption (Economics)--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--20th century.

Consumption (Economics)--Soviet Union.

Shopping--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--19th century.

Shopping--Russia (Federation)--Moscow--History--20th century.

Shopping--Soviet Union.

Russia (Federation)--Moscow.

Physical Description:

x, 339 pages ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011.

Summary:

In Selling to the Masses, Marjorie L. Hilton presents a captivating history of consumer culture in Russia from the 1880s to the early 1930s. She highlights the critical role of consumerism as a vehicle for shaping class and gender identities, modernity, urbanism, and as a mechanism of state power in the transition from tsarist autocracy to Soviet socialism.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Russia witnessed a rise in mass production, consumer goods, advertising, and new retail venues such as arcades and department stores. These mirrored similar developments in other European countries and reflected a growing quest for leisure activities, luxuries, and a modern lifestyle. As Hilton reveals, retail commerce played a major role in developing Russian public culture-it affected celebrations of religious holidays, engaged diverse groups of individuals, defined behaviors and rituals of city life, inspired new interpretations of masculinity and femininity, and became a visible symbol of state influence and provision.

Through revolution, civil war, and monumental changes in the political sphere, Russia's distinctive culture of consumption persisted but was also contested and recreated. Leaders of all stripes continued to look to the "commerce of exchange" as a key element in appealing to the masses, garnering political support, and promoting a modern nation.

Hilton follows the evolution of retailing and retailers alike, from crude outdoor stalls to elite establishments; through the competition of private versus state-run stores during the NEP; and finally to a system of total state control, indifferent workers, rationing, and shortages under a consolidating Stalinist state. Book jacket.

Contents:

Russia's retail landscape, 1860s-1890s

Palaces of retailing and consumption

For God, tsar, and consumerism

Visions of modernity: gender and the retail marketplace, 1905-1914

Consuming the city: the culture of the retail marketplace

War and revolution in the marketplace, 1914-1921

Retailing the revolution

The customer is always wrong: consumer complaint in late NEP-era Russia.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822961673

0822961679

OCLC:

729341801