A Cultural History of Shopping in the Modern Age

In the modern consumer age that emerged after the First World War, shopping became a ubiquitous cultural practice. Despite its apparent universality, the historicity and contingency of shopping should not be ignored: its meaning was always inextricably linked to the political, material and economic contexts within which it took place. Gendered female for the most part, shopping continued to evoke different cultural responses, embraced as liberatory by some, condemned as frivolous by others. Business decisions and public policies helped construct the frameworks within which new, often American-led, shopping cultures emerged, from downtown department stores to chain stores to suburban shopping malls. The digital revolution in shopping that began in the last decade of the 20th century has changed the face of cities and towns and led to the closure of many bricks-and-mortar stores but, as this volume explores, the shopper remains very much at the center of Western capitalist societies. presents an overview of the period with themes addressing practices and processes; spaces and places; shoppers and identities; luxury and everyday; home and family; visual and literary representations; reputation, trust and credit; and governance, regulation and the state.>

Product details

• Authors: Vicki Howard, Jon Stobart
• Assisted by: Vicki Howard (Editor), Rappaport Erika (Editor), Jon Stobart (Editor of the series), Stobart Jon (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 27.06.2024
• EAN: 9781350027053
• ISBN: 978-1-350-02705-3
• No. of pages: 248
• Dimensions: 170 mm x 246 mm x 16 mm
• Series: The Cultural Histories Series
• Subjects: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / Microeconomics, Microeconomics