Sold!
Sold!
"Shop 'til you drop" is the rhetoric of the modern consumer society and refers to a world in which one sale merges seamlessly into the next, in which department stores, chain stores and boutiques offer an infinite product palette, not to mention the internet, which allows us to shop anywhere and anytime. Shopping is no longer a task carried out simply in order to buy food and groceries but is celebrated as a pleasurable pastime. How did consumerism gain such central importance in everyday life and, more importantly, who are the actors in this consumer drama? Why are women so frequently associated with the activity of shopping?
Monica Neve approaches this question by asking how the development of specific ideas about the relationship between women and shopping at the turn of the twentieth century contributed to shopping becoming widely accepted as a gender-specific activity. Using advertising and trade journals and drawing upon the advertising strategies of four Munich firms, she examines how shopping became established as a female responsibility for the maintenance of cultural and aesthetic norms.
"This book does a good job of showing how companies at the start of the twentieth century addressed female consumers and how shopping became an essential duty and right of the bourgeois woman. It is beautifully illustrated with color and black and white images. The prose is clear and concise. Sold! should be of interest to all those working on gender history, cosumption, advertising, and Munich."
Pamela Swett, H-Soz-Kult, 08.09.2011
"Die Studie ist gut gegliedert, geht souverän mit der Literatur und dem Quellenmaterial um. Sie erlaubt einen disziplinierten Zugriff auf den internationalen Forschungsstand; das ist ein Verdienst und eine Stärke. Zugleich eröffnet sie Fragen und Perspektiven auf den Stellenwert der Lokalstudie im internationalen Kontext."
Gudrun M. König, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 99, 2012/2
"Sold! should be a required reading for students and scholars in the fields of gender and cultural studies, history, and marketing. Its impressive handling of source material, application of theory to archival evidence, and attention to visual and textual detail is exemplary."
Lela Felter-Kerley, H-Urban, H-Net Reviews, Januar 2013
| Volume | 28 |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 978-3-515-09343-9 |
| Media type | Book - Hardcover |
| Edition number | 1. |
| Copyright year | 2010 |
| Publisher | Franz Steiner Verlag |
| Length | 259 pages |
| Illustrations | 34 b/w figs., 13 col. figs. |
| Size | 17.0 x 24.0 cm |
| Language | English |
