The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present - Hardcover

Vries, Jan De

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521895022 ISBN 13: 9780521895026

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

In the long eighteenth century, new consumer aspirations combined with a new industrious behavior to fundamentally alter the material cultures of northwest Europe and North America. This 'industrious revolution' is the context in which the economic acceleration associated with the Industrial Revolution took shape. This study explores the intellectual understanding of the new importance of consumer goods as well as the actual consumer behavior of households of all income levels. De Vries examines how the activation and evolution of consumer demand shaped the course of economic development, situating consumer behavior in the context of the household economy. He considers the changing consumption goals of households from the seventeenth century to the present and analyzes how household decisions have mediated between macro-level economic growth and actual human betterment. Ultimately, de Vries' research reveals the strengths and weaknesses of existing consumer theory, suggesting revisions that add historical realism to economic abstractions.

About this title

Review:

'... this book will interest all concerned with human behaviour in its many forms ... it contains interesting insights into the ways behaviour has changed over the past couple of centuries ...' The Financial Times

'Buy, buy buy.' The Times Literary Supplement

'This is an apposite book in these days of 'credit crunch' and has an important contemporary as well as historical significance.' The Historical Association

Book Description:

This book examines how the activation and evolution of consumer demand shaped the course of economic development, focusing specifically on the household economy. His research traces how this 'industrious revolution' fundamentally altered the material cultures of Europe and North America and suggests important revisions to existing consumer theory.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521895022
• ISBN 13: 9780521895026
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 340