The Cultural History of Consumption

Contributors: Kristoffer Jensen, Mikkel Thelle, Jon Stobart, Jakob Ørnbjerg, Kirsten Rykind-Eriksen, Bertel Nygaard, Jens Toftgaard, Michael F. Wagner, Kirsten Linde and Helle Strandgaard Jensen.

Forbrugets kulturhistorie (The Cultural History of Consumption) pursues the consumption of goods, experiences, space and media from the beginning of the absolute monarchy until today. The articles range widely from the development of small shops until the large supermarkets of today and from the exclusive journey by diligence to the road trips of the middle class. The book explores how department stores in the late 1800s provided the bourgeoisie with a recipe for the good life, while the plate-glass windows of the shops changed the space of the city, created the modern commercial streets and stimulated the lust of the passing consumers. The television attracted all kinds of people and the book also examines the 1970s debate on children's consumption of children's television, commercials and merchandise. 

Facts

Forbrugets kulturhistorie (The Cultural History of Consumption - Shop, consumer, city 1660-2015)

Edited by Kasper H. Andersen, Kristoffer Jensen and Mikkel Thelle

Aarhus University Press, Den Gamle By and Danish Centre for Urban History, 2017

294 p., ill.
ISBN 978-87-7184-214-2