The consumer revolution, 1650-1800 / Michael Kwass, The Johns Hopkins University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kwass, Michael, author.

Series:

New approaches to European history.

New approaches to European history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Europe--History.

Consumption (Economics).

Consumer goods--Europe--History.

Consumer goods.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 261 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

The production, acquisition, and use of consumer goods defines our daily lives, and yet consumerism is seen as increasingly controversial. Movements for sustainable and ethical consumerism are gaining momentum alongside an awareness of how our choices in the marketplace can affect public issues. How did we get here? This volume advances a bold new interpretation of the 'consumer revolution' of the eighteenth century, when European elites, middling classes, and even certain labourers purchased unprecedented quantities of clothing, household goods, and colonial products. Michael Kwass adopts a global perspective that incorporates the expansion of European empires, the development of world trade, and the rise of plantation slavery in the Americas. Kwass analyses the emergence of Enlightenment material cultures, contentious philosophical debates on the morality of consumption, and new forms of consumer activism to offer a fresh interpretation of the politics of consumption in the age of abolitionism and the Atlantic Revolutions.

Contents:

Introduction; 1. Consumer revolution; 2. The globalization of European consumption; 3. Going shopping; 4. The cultural meanings of consumption; 5. Consuming enlightenment; 6. The luxury debate; 7. The politics of consumption in the age of revolution; Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 13 Jan 2022).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-009-23438-2

1-009-23439-0

0-511-97925-8

OCLC:

1275368552