Consumers Against Capitalism? Consumer Cooperation in Europe, North America, and Japan, 1840D1990

by Furlough, Ellen; Strikwerda, Carl; Alex, Peder; Christiansen, Niels Finn; Donahue, Kathleen; Fairbairn, Brett; Gurney, Peter; Hauch, Gabriella; Leikin, Steven; MacPherson, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780847686483
• ISBN10: 0847686485
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-02-18
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

There is a growing scholarly interest in the historical development of what has been called a 'consumer society.' In this important collection of essays, historians from six different countries trace the history of the consumer cooperative movement in much of western Europe and North America from its inception to the present. The consumer cooperative, as the contributors show, bears directly on the role of socialist parties, the nascent feminist movement, and conceptions of the worker's role in a changing economy and society in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first book to explore consumer cooperation on a comparative, international level, Consumers Against Capitalism fills a significant gap in the literature of labor history. It also makes a significant contribution to the literature on consumerism and capitalist culture. It is essential reading for students and scholars of labor history, women's history, and social movements.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
1 Economics, Consumer Culture, and Gender: An Introduction to the Politics of Consumer Cooperation	1	(66)
Ellen Furlough
Carl Strikwerda
2 "Alternative Visions" and Working-Class Culture: The Political Economy of Consumer Cooperation in Belgium, 1860-1980	67	(26)
Carl Strikwerda
3 The Citizen Producer: The Rise and Fall of Working-Class Cooperatives in the United States	93	(22)
Steven Leikin
4 From Cooperative Commonwealth to Cooperative Democracy: The American Cooperative Ideal, 1880-1940	115	(20)
Kathleen Donohue
5 Labor's Great Arch: Cooperation and Cultural Revolution in Britain, 1795-1926	135	(38)
Peter Gurney
6 French Consumer Cooperation, 1885-1930: From the "Third Pillar" of Socialism to "A Movement for All Consumers"	173	(18)
Ellen Furlough
7 From Self-Help to Konzern: Consumer Cooperatives in Austria, 1840-1990	191	(30)
Gabriella Hauch
8 Between Farmers and Workers: Consumer Cooperation in Denmark, 1850-1940	221	(20)
Niels Finn Christiansen
9 Swedish Consumer Cooperation as an Educational Endeavor	241	(26)
Peder Alex
10 The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cooperation in Germany	267	(36)
Brett Fairbairn
11 The Consumer Co-op in Japan: Building Democratic Alternatives to State-Led Capitalism	303	(28)
Ruth Grubel
12 Of Spheres, Perspectives, Cultures, and Stages: The Consumer Co-operative Movement in English-Speaking Canada, 1830-1980	331	(28)
Ian MacPherson
Bibliography	359	(10)
Index	369	(6)
About the Contributors	375