Cultures of Selling: Perspectives on Consumption and Society Since 1700

ISBN-13: 9781138262782 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 312 str.

Laura Ugolini; John Benson

Opis

This volume explores the cultural and social values attached to retail selling in various historical contexts and locations. The articles shed light on different aspects of an activity that is both 'mundane' and almost universal: that of selling commodities for a profit. This is a field of study that is of growing interest to scholars from a variety of disciplines, but on which relatively little has yet been published.

Recenzje

’This book should find many readers who are interested in consumption. They will find a rich source of information and analysis.’ Journal of British Studies ’...a substantial and informative introduction... The editors are to be thanked for bringing this collection together.’ Business History Review

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction, John Benson and Laura Ugolini. Section 1 Itineraries and Spaces of Selling: West End shopping with Vogue: 1930s geographies of metropolitan consumption, Bronwen Edwards; Beyond the boundary of the shop: retail advertising spaces in 18th-century provincial England, Victoria Morgan; Creating new spaces of food consumption: the rise of mass catering and the activities of the Aerated Bread Company, Gareth Shaw, Louise Curth and Andrew Alexander. Section 2 Wheeling and Dealing: 'Speciousness is the bucketeer's watchword and outrageous effrontery his capital': financial bucket shops in the City of London, c. 1880-1939, Dilwyn Porter; Buy now - pay later. Credit: the mainstay of the retail furniture business? Clive Edwards; 'Funny money', hidden charges and repossession: working-class experiences of consumption and credit in the inter-war years, Avram Taylor. Section 3 Good Salesmanship: 'The customer is always right': change and continuity in British and American department store salesmanship, 1945-60, Joy Cushman; 'The diligent hand maketh rich': commercial advice for retailers in late 17th and early 18th century England, Elizabeth Anne Rothenberg; Interactions of discontent: customers, sales assistants and the state in the German Democratic Republic, 1970-89, Christina Schröder; The view from the shop: window display, the shopper and the formulation of theory, Susan Lomax. Index.

O autorze

Professor John Benson and Dr Laura Ugolini are both based at the University of Wolverhampton, UK.