Fabricating Consumers - The Sewing Machine in Modern Japan

Zusatztext "Gordon asks questions and draws connections that less ambitious studies of business or society alone cannot achieve . . . [he] reinvigorates the history of the sewing machine and suggests that there is much more to learn about this extremely significant piece of household technology." Informationen zum Autor Andrew Gordon is Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History at Harvard University. His previous books include Labor and Imperial Democracy in Japan (UC Press) and A Modern History of Japan. Klappentext Since its early days of mass production in the 1850s! the sewing machine has been intricately connected with the global development of capitalism. Andrew Gordon traces the machine's remarkable journey into and throughout Japan! where it not only transformed manners of dress! but also helped change patterns of daily life! class structure! and the role of women. As he explores the selling! buying! and use of the sewing machine in the early to mid-twentieth century! Gordon finds that its history is a lens through which we can examine the modern transformation of daily life in Japan. Both as a tool of production and as an object of consumer desire! the sewing machine is entwined with the emergence and ascendance of the middle class! of the female consumer! and of the professional home manager as defining elements of Japanese modernity. Zusammenfassung Since its early days of mass production in the 1850s, the sewing machine has been intricately connected with the global development of capitalism. This title traces the machine's journey into and throughout Japan, where it not only transformed manners of dress, but also helped change patterns of daily life, class structure, and the role of women. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Part One: Singer in Japan 1. Meiji Machines 2. The American Way of Selling 3. Selling and Consuming Modern Life 4. Resisting Yankee Capitalism Part Two: Sewing Modernity in War and Peace 5. War Machines at Home 6. Mechanical Phoenix 7. A Nation of Dressmakers Conclusion Appendix: Some Notes on Time-Use Studies Notes Select Bibliography Index ...

Product details

• Authors: Andrew Gordon, Andrew Gordon
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.2011
• EAN: 9780520267855
• ISBN: 978-0-520-26785-5
• No. of pages: 304
• Series: Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes; Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Labour, economic and industrial sociology; Japan, SCIENCE / Philosophy & Social Aspects, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Impact of science & technology on society, Impact of science and technology on society, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Technology Studies