Capitalism and the senses / edited by Regina Lee Blaszczyk and David Suisman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, editor.

Suisman, David, editor.

Series:

Hagley perspectives on business and culture.

Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism--History--20th century.

Capitalism.

Senses and sensation--History--20th century.

Senses and sensation.

Senses and sensation--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Capitalism and the Senses is the first edited volume to explore how the forces of capitalism are entangled with everyday sensory experience. If the senses have a history, as Karl Marx wrote, then that history is inseparable from the development of capitalism, which has both taken advantage of the senses and influenced how sensory experience has changed over time.This pioneering collection shows how seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching have both shaped and been shaped by commercial interests from the turn of the twentieth century to our own time. From the manipulation of taste and texture in the food industry to the careful engineering of the feel of artificial fabrics, capitalist enterprises have worked to commodify the senses in a wide variety of ways. Drawing on history, anthropology, geography, and other fields, the volume's essays analyze not only where this effort has succeeded but also where the senses have resisted control and the logic of markets. The result is an innovative ensemble that demonstrates how the drive to exploit sensorial experience for profit became a defining feature of capitalist modernity and establishes the senses as an important dimension of the history of capitalism.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Series editor's foreword

Introduction

PART I Framing Capitalism and the Senses

Chapter 1 "Use Not Perfumery to Flavor Soup" The Science of the Senses in Aesthetic Capitalism

Chapter 2 Chasing Flavor: Sensory Science and the Economy

Chapter 3 Richer Sounds: Capitalism, Musical Instruments, and the Cold War Sonic Divide

PART II Resisting Rationalization

Chapter 4 Altered States and Gustatory Taste: The Sensory Synergies of Whiskey Marketing in the Mid-Twentieth- Century United States

Chapter 5 The Psychophysics of Taste and Smell: From Experimental Science to Commercial Tool

Chapter 6 Sky's the Limit: Capitalism, the Senses, and the Failure of Commercial Supersonic Aviation in the United States

Chapter 7 Sounding Maritime Metal: On Weathering Steel and Listening to Capitalism at Sea

PART III Production

Chapter 8 Making Human Trash Tasty: A History of Sweet Cattle Feed in the Progressive Era

Chapter 9 Getting a Handle on It: Thomas Lamb, Mass Production, and Touch in Design History

PART IV Marketplace

Chapter 10 Fragrance and Fair Women: Perfumers and Consumers in Modern London

Chapter 11 Sold on Softness: DuPont Synthetics and Sensory Experience

Chapter 12 Feminine Touches: The Sensory World of Lady Hilton

Notes

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Aug 2023)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781512824216

1512824216

OCLC:

1362484351