Commercial Cultures Economies, Practices, Spaces

by Jackson, Peter M.; Lowe, Michelle; Miller, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9781859733820
• ISBN10: 1859733824
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Why do fashion houses pay exorbitant rents for retail space in London and New York from which they sell very few clothes? Why are some mothers happy to buy and sell children's clothes from charity shops and thrift stores while others insist on the latest brand names for their children? What does the commercial success of men's lifestyle magazines tell us about contemporary gender relations and identities? This book provides answers to these and other questions about contemporary commercial culture through historically specific, theoretically informed, empirically grounded interdisciplinary research. From shopping malls, supermarkets, and fashion retailers, through the marketing and consumption of food, books and magazines, to sex pics on the internet, contributors overturn the assumption that it is commerce that works by logical economic models while 'culture' is invoked to explain the behaviour of the irrational consumer. In proposing a new agenda for understanding the complex relationship between commerce and culture, the book focuses on the point of articulation between commercial enterprises, which are designed to sell goods, and consumers, who purchase goods, to arrive at a broader understanding of the commercial cultures within which both enterprises and consumers operate. Spanning history, geography, business studies, sociology and anthropology, contributors work in a positive and complementary fashion to give the kinds of insights into the economies, practices and spaces of commercial culture that single disciplines rarely achieve.

Author Biography

Edited by Peter Jackson, Professor of Human Geography, University of Sheffield, Michelle Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of Southampton, Daniel Miller, Professor of Anthropology, University College London and Frank Mort, Professor of Cultural History and Director of the Centre for Metropolitan History, University of East London

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	p. vii
Introduction Transcending Dualisms	p. 1
References	p. 4
	p. 6
Introduction Paths to Mass Consumption: Historical Perspectives	p. 7
References	p. 12
Culture of Restraint: the British Chain Store 1920-39	p. 15
References	p. 31
The Commercial Domain: Advertising and the Cultural Management of Demand	p. 35
Note	p. 50
References	p. 51
In Pursuit of the Professional Ideal: Advertising and the Construction of Commercial Expertise in Britain 1953-64	p. 55
References	p. 73
	p. 76
Introduction The Birth of Value	p. 77
References	p. 83
'mother Swapping': the Trafficking of Nearly New Children's Wear	p. 85
References	p. 100
Narratives of Consumption and the Body in the Space of the Charity/shop	p. 101
Acknowledgements	p. 120
References	p. 120
Consumption without Scarcity: Exchange and Normativity in an Internet Setting	p. 123
References	p. 141
	p. 144
Introduction Consumption, Audiences and Commercial Culture	p. 145
References	p. 152
Imagined Cuisines: 'nation' and 'market' as Organising Structures in Norwegian Food Marketing	p. 153
References	p. 172
Reflexivity, Reading and Genderin the Retail Book Industry	p. 175
References	p. 186
Ambivalence in Men's Lifestyle Magazines	p. 189
References	p. 210
	p. 214
Introduction Uncle Sam Invades?	p. 215
References	p. 220
Four Myths in Search of Foundation: the Restructuring of Us Food Retailingandits Implications for Commercial Cultures	p. 221
Acknowledgements	p. 241
References	p. 242
From Victor Gruen to Merry Hill: Reflections on Regional Shopping Centres and Urban Development in the Us and UK	p. 245
References	p. 258
Streets of Style: Fashion Designer Retailing with in London and New York	p. 261
References	p. 277
Index	p. 279
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