Accounting for the Consumer Revolution in Eighteenth-Century England

Campbell examines where precisely the increased demand came from that made the English industrial revolution possible. Scrutinizing the theories put forward by economic historians, he shows that neither the suggestion that this was due to a new attempt to manipulate demand, nor to an increased stress on fashion, nor even an emphasis on social emulation, makes sense. What the data does show is that the ‘new propensity to consume’ that drove the revolution came mainly from the middle classes, and was for luxury goods rather than necessities. While what was also clear was that this increased demand was closely related to significant cultural developments, such as an expansion of leisure-time pursuits, the rise of novel-reading, an increase in the rate at which fashions changed, together with the rising importance of the cult of romantic love.

Released: Replika 21–22, 99–115.
Replika block:
Fordította:
Györgyi Bodon