Consumer revolution
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The consumer revolution refers to the period from approximately 1600 to 1750 in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in which there was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of
luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...
and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. The consumer revolution marked a departure from the traditional mode of life that was dominated by frugality and scarcity to one of increasingly
mass consumption Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the sup ...
in society.


History

Consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...
has weak links with the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
, but is in fact an international phenomenon. People purchasing
good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
s and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs is as old as the first
civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Ci ...
s (e.g. Ancient Egypt,
Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
and
Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
). The consumer society emerged in the late seventeenth century and intensified throughout the eighteenth century, mainly due to trade deals with their extensive colonies across 4 continents. Change was propelled by the growing middle-class who embraced new ideas about luxury consumption and the growing importance of fashion as an arbiter for purchasing rather than necessity. This revolution encompassed the growth in construction of vast country estates specifically designed to cater for comfort and the increased availability of luxury goods aimed at a growing market. This included
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
,
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
,
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
and
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...
; these were increasingly grown on vast slave plantations in Caribbean colonies as demand steadily rose. In particular, sugar consumption in
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
during the course of the 18th century increased by a factor of 20. Moreover, the expansion of trade and markets also contributed to the burgeoning consumer revolution, by increasing the variety of goods that could be made available to affluent society. This pattern was particularly visible in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where the gentry and prosperous merchants took up residence and created a culture of luxury and consumption that was slowly extended across the socio-economic divide. Marketplaces expanded as shopping centres, such as the New Exchange, opened in 1609 by Robert Cecil in the
Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...
. Shops started to become important as places for Londoners to meet and socialise and became popular destinations alongside the theatre.
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
London also saw the growth of luxury buildings as advertisements for social position with speculative architects like
Nicholas Barbon Nicholas Barbon ( 1640 – 1698) was an English economist, physician, and financial speculator. Historians of mercantilism consider him to be one of the first proponents of the free market. In the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, he b ...
and Lionel Cranfield. There was growth in industries like glass making and silk manufacturing, and much pamphleteering of the time was devoted to justifying private vice for luxury goods for the greater public good. This then scandalous line of thought caused great controversy with the publication of
Bernard Mandeville Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville (; 15 November 1670 – 21 January 1733), was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, he lived most of his life in England and used English for ...
's influential work ''
The Fable of the Bees ''The Fable of The Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits'' (1714) is a book by the Anglo-Dutch social philosopher Bernard Mandeville. It consists of the satirical poem ''The Grumbling Hive: or, Knaves turn'd Honest'', which was first publis ...
'' in 1714, in which he argued that a country's prosperity ultimately lay in the self-interest of the consumer. These trends were vastly accelerated in the 18th century, as rising prosperity and
social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
increased the number of people with disposable income for consumption. Important shifts included the marketing of goods for individuals as opposed to items for the household, and the new status of goods as
status symbol A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of economic or social status. Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. ''Status symbol'' is also a sociological term – as part of social and soci ...
s, related to changes in fashion and desired for aesthetic appeal, as opposed to just their utility. The
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
inventor and
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
,
Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indust ...
, noticed the way aristocratic fashions, themselves subject to periodic changes in direction, slowly filtered down through society. He pioneered the use of marketing techniques to influence and manipulate the direction of the prevailing tastes and preferences to cause his goods to be accepted among the aristocracy; it was only a matter of time before his goods were being rapidly bought up by the middle classes as well. His example was followed by other producers of a wide range of products and the spread and importance of consumption fashions became steadily more important.


Semi-luxury and imitation

Popular culture drew aesthetic techniques, design, and technology from the goods England gathered from trade in Asia and the Mediterranean. With the increased demand for Asian ceramics, European markets had difficulty supplying buyers so inventors started imitating Chinese porcelain. Porcelain remained popular for tableware and pottery, but the style, shape and decoration of the porcelain changed to fit more Western tastes, painting flowers and English scenes rather than Chinese ones. Imitation goods were also used to disguise social class. Middle-class consumers could not afford the same exotic luxury goods brought back from overseas trade that the elite class used to distinguish their elevated rank. Markets and shops whose target buyers were middle-class consumers began creating "semi-luxury" goods that imitated actual luxury goods. These goods were part of a movement to create a "counterfeit culture" that gave middle-class consumers an opportunity to emulate the wealth and luxurious life that the elite class lived without paying as much. Household decorations, kitchenware, clothes, and transportation vehicles were all objects that could be used to crossover into "polite society." England was concerned with the quantity products exported out of England in comparison to the countries they traded with. England did not want to be overcome economically by countries in Asia because they did not export as much so merchants, artisans, and shopkeepers started creating their own goods to compete with the Asian market. To avoid entirely copying Asian goods, English inventors imitated goods from other countries that also traded with Asia such as France, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain. The goal was not to mimic the exact product, but instead use the techniques that proved successful in other European imitations to create a superior product. Imitation and semi-luxury goods were also popular because they showed the modernization of English production and manufacturing processes. Large-scale production required standardization, advanced mechanical replication, and an organized system of assembly. Substitutes for the indigenous materials used to create the original products were seen as a show of enlightened and advanced thinking. The imitation and innovation of semi-luxury goods was a testament to the potential the English had to impact the global economy, to be France, China and India in national exports.Berg, Maxine, "In Pursuit of Luxury: Global History and British Consumer Goods in the Eighteenth Century," Oxford University Press, 2004.


See also

*
Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
*
Commercialism Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit. Commercialism can also refer, positivel ...
*
Consumer economy A consumer economy describes an economy driven by consumer spending as a percent of its gross domestic product, as opposed to the other major components of GDP (gross private domestic investment, government spending, and imports netted against expo ...
*
Conspicuous consumption In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen co ...
*
Economic materialism Materialism can be described as either a personal attitude which attaches importance to acquiring and consuming material goods or as a logistical analysis of how physical resources are shaped into consumable products. The use of the term materia ...
*
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
* Industrious Revolution


References


Bibliography

* Fairchilds, Cissie. “Review: Consumption in Early Modern Europe. A Review Article”. ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', Vol. 35, No. 4. (Oct., 1993), pp. 850–858. *Roberts, Mary L. 1998. "Gender, Consumption, and Commodity Culture." ''American Historical Review'' 103: 817-44 * Berg, Maxine, Clifford, H. (eds.), ''Consumers and luxury: Consumer culture in Europe 1650-1850'', Manchester:Manchester UP 1999 *Berg, Maxine, ''Luxury & Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century Britain'', Oxford: OUP 2005 *Berry, Helen, ‘Polite Consumption: Shopping in Eighteenth-Century England’, ''TRHS 6thSer. ''12, 2002, pp. 375-394 *Cox, Nancy, ''The complete Tradesman. A Study of Retailing, 1550-1820'', Aldershot: Ashgate 2000 *Lemire, Beverley, ''Fashion’s Favourite: The Cotton Trade and the Consumer in Britain, 1660-1800,'' Oxford: OUP 1991 *McKendrick, Neil, Brewer, John, Plumb, J.H., ''The Birth of a Consumer Society: The Commercialization of Eighteenth-century England,'' London: Europa Publications 1982 *Mui, Hoh-Chueng, Mui, Lorna H., ''Shops and Shopkeeping in Eighteenth-Century England'', Kingston: McGill-Queen's UP 1989 *Shammas, Carole, ''The Pre-industrial Consumer in England and America'', Oxford: Clarendon 1990 * Spufford, Margaret, ''The Great Reclothing of Rural England: Petty Chapmen and their Wares in the Seventeenth Century'', London: Hambledon 1984 *Blondé, Bruno et al. (eds.), ''Retail circuits and practices in medieval and early modern Europe'' (Studies in European Urban History (1100-1800) 9), Turnhout: Brepols 2006 * Stobart, Jon ‘Shopping streets as social space: leisure, consumerism and improvement in an eighteenth-century county town’, ''Urban History'' 25:1, 1998, pp. 3-21 *Stobart, Jon, Hann, Andrew, ‘Retailing Revolution in the Eighteenth Century? Evidence from North-West England’, ''Business History'' 46:2, 2004, pp. 171-194 *Stobart, Jon, ‘Leisure and Shopping in the Small Towns of Georgian England. A Regional Approach’, ''Journal of Urban History'' 32:4, 2005, pp. 479-503 *Stobart, Jon, Hann, Andrew, Morgan, Victoria, ''Spaces of Consumption. Leisure and shopping in the English town, c. 1680-1830'', London: Routledge 2007 *Stobart, Jon, ''Spend, Spend, Spend! A History of Shopping'', Stroud/Gloucs: History Press 2008 *Stobart, Jon, ‘Gentlemen and shopkeepers: supplying the country house in eighteenth-century England’, ''Economic History Review ''64:3, 2011, pp. 885-904 *de Vries, Jan, ''The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present'', Cambridge: CUP 2008 *Wallis, Patrick, ‘Consumption, retailing and medicine in early-modern London’, ''Economic History Review ''61:1, 2008, pp. 6-53 * Walsh, Claire, ‘Shop Design and the Display of Goods in Eighteenth-Century London’, ''Journal of Design History'' 8:3, 1995, pp. 157-176 *Walsh, Claire, ‘The design of London goldsmiths’ shops in the early eighteenth century’, in: David Mitchell, ed., ''Goldsmiths, Silversmiths and Bankers: Innovation and the Transfer of Skill, 1550 to 1750'' (Centre for Metropolitan History Working Papers Series 2), Stroud/Gloucs, 1995, pp. 96-111 *Walsh, Claire, ‘Social Meaning and Social Space in the Shopping Galleries of Early Modern London’, in: John Benson, Laura Ugolini, (eds.), ''A Nation of Shopkeepers: Five Centuries of British Retailing'', London: I.B. Tauris, 2003, pp. 52-79


External links

* http://bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/Products.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20080323055407/http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/styleAndStatus/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Consumer Revolution Consumer Economic growth Revolutions by type Social history Socio-economic mobility