Creating consumers : home economists in twentieth-century America / Carolyn M. Goldstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldstein, Carolyn M., 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Home economics--Vocational guidance--United States--History--20th century.

Home economics.

Consumer education--United States--History--20th century.

Consumer education.

Feminism--United States--History--20th century.

Feminism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (425 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this transition, professional home economists had two major goals: to teach women to assume their new roles as modern consumers and to communicate homemakers' needs to manufacturers and political leaders. Carolyn M. Goldstein charts the development of the profession from its origins as an educational movement to its identity as a source of consumer expertise in the interwar period to its virtual disappearance by the 1970s. Working for both business and government, home economists walked a fine line between educating and representing consumers while they shaped cultural expectations about consumer goods as well as the goods themselves. Goldstein looks beyond 1970s feminist scholarship that dismissed home economics for its emphasis on domesticity to reveal the movement's complexities, including the extent of its public impact and debates about home economists' relationship to the commercial marketplace. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900-1920; 2. Creating a Science of Consumption at the Bureau of Home Economics, 1920-1940; 3. Reforming the Marketplace at the Bureau of Home Economics, 1923-1940; 4. Selling Home Economics: The Professional Ideals of Businesswomen, 1920-1940; 5. Product Testing, Development, and Promotion: Corporate Investment in Home Economics, 1920-1940; 6. From Service to Sales: Utility Home Service Departments, 1920-1940; 7. Mediation Marginalized: Home Economics in Government and Business, 1940-1970

8. Identity Crisis and Confusion: Home Economics and Social Change, 1950-1975Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

979-88-908719-6-1

979-88-9313-118-5

1-4696-0170-2

0-8078-7238-5

OCLC:

794327650