Learning to Consume: Early Development Stores and the Shaping of the Modern Consumer Culture (1800-1914)
Author(s)
Laermans, Rudi
Abstract
The work of sociologists and historians in recent years has aided the understanding of the role of social and commercial institutions in the development of a culture of mass consumption. As this selection explains, early department stores in European and American cities were leading proponents of the modern consumer culture through commercial innovation and the creation of public spheres for middle-class women. Active buying was transformed into passive shopping by the department store.
