Purchasing Power

Donica Belisle is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Regina.

"Drawing on rich archival research, Donica Belisle has written a fascinating consumer history of Canada, focusing on women’s contributions before the Second World War. This well-written study explores the links between citizenship and consumption, detailing the ways that white British practices were normalized as 'Canadian' and the role that women played in the formation of white Canadian nationalism in the early twentieth century."- Vicki Howard, Department of History, University of Essex "Today, the term 'pro-sumer' denotes 'a consumer who becomes involved with designing or customizing products for their own needs.' This study of women considers the forms of political consumerism in which they engaged and reveals the political values they held."- Anne Burke (The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature) "Many white Canadian women between the 1890s and 1930s deployed notions of consumer taste to solidify their own privilege. This book helps us appreciate why consumption continues to compel so many women now, even in the face of mounting evidence of its destructiveness." - Tracey Deutsch, Department of History and the Imagine Chair in Arts, Design, and Humanities, University of Minnesota "La force du livre de Donica Belisle, dont l’écriture est par ailleurs limpide, est de restituer la complexité et les ambivalences qui ont ponctué le chemin vers la société de consommation industrielle. Cet ouvrage représente donc une contribution majeure à l’histoire de l’économie politique canadienne."- Clarence Hatton-Proulx, Sorbonne Université (Histoire sociale / Social History) "This is a wonderful book that delves deeply into issues of class, gender, and race, considering how these classifications alternatively empower and exclude."- P. LeClerc, emerita, St. Lawrence University (CHOICE) "This is a book about the rise of a Canadian consumer culture as viewed through the prism of women’s associations, publications and activities. This, it does well."- Béatrice Craig, University of Ottawa (Prairie History)

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Consumer Culture in Historical Perspective 1. Temperance and the Rise of Sober Consumer Culture 2. Shopping for Victory: Consumer Citizenship in Wartime3. Home Economics and the Training of the Consumer Citizenry4. Rural Consumer Citizens: Consumption in the Countryside 5. For Whom Do We Dress? Feminism and Fashion 6. Challenging Capitalism? The Limits of Collective Buying Conclusion: Empowerment and Exclusion: Consumption in Canadian History NotesBibliography Index