Making of the Consumer

Frank Trentmann is Professor of Modern History at Birkbeck College, London, and Director of the Cultures of Consumption Research Programme (ESRC-AHRC).

'At a time when it has become commonplace to accept 'the consumer' as a timeless and neutral concept, it is vital to question just when, where and how this particular figure appeared. An exciting and important collection that leads consumption studies forward into new territory, this book offers highly relevant and engaged social science which will have a broad appeal.'Professor Richard Wilk, Gender Studies and Anthropology, Indiana University, USA'Epitomizes the maturity reached by consumer studies. Framed by a far-reaching introduction, the wide-ranging and original essays develop a much-needed genealogical approach to the development of the consumer as a contested social figure embedded both in everyday life and in commercial and public knowledge.'Dr. Roberta Sassatelli, Department of Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Italy'This bracing collection arrives at a crucial moment in the development of consumption studies. It demonstrates the benefits and tensions t

• Introduction 1. Knowing Consumers: Histories, Identities, Practices: An Introduction Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London) Part One Defining Consumers: Consumers in Economics, Law and Civil Society 2. The Problematic Status of the Consumer in Orthodox Economic Thought Donald Winch (University of Sussex) 3. From Users to Consumers: Water Politics in Nineteenth-Century London Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London) and Vanessa Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London) 4. Women and the Ethics of Consumption in France at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (CNRS: Centre de Recherches Historiques, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France) 5. Legal Constructions of the Consumer Michelle Everson (Birkbeck College, University of London) Part Two Commercial Relations: Retailers, Experts, and the Contested Consumer 6. Packaging China: Foreign Articles and Dangerous Tastes in the Mid-Victorian Tea Party Erika Rappaport (University of California, Santa Barbara) 7. From Neighbour to Consumer: The Transformation of Retailer-Consumer Relationships in Twentieth-Century Germany Uwe Spiekermann (Georg-August University, Goettingen) 8. Consumers with Chinese Characteristics? Local Customers in British and Japanese Multinational Stores in Contemporary China Jos Gamble (Royal Holloway University) 9. A Becoming Subject: Consumer Socialization in the Mediated Marketplace Stephen Kline (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada) Part Three Reframing Consumers and Consumption: Contemporary Culture and Political Economy 10. Competing Domains: Democratic Subjects and Consuming Subjects in Britain and the United States since 1945 Frank Mort (University of Manchester) 11. From Stigma to Cult: Changing Meanings in East German Consumer Culture Ina Merkel (Philipps-Universitt, Marburg, Germany) 12. The Limits of Culture: Political Economy and the Anthropology of Consumption James G. Carrier (Indiana University and Oxford Brookes University) 13. Addressing the Consumer Ben Fine (SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Index