Review

Author(s): Ruth Schwartz Cowan

Review by: Ruth Schwartz Cowan
Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 90, No. 6 (May, 1985), pp. 1366-1368
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2779654
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AmericanJournalof Sociology
been clarifiedby this study,however,is the natureof the social and
ideological links between workers'leisure activitiesand the political
hegemonyof the two major parties.

The Birthofa ConsumerSociety: The Commercialization

ofEighteenthCenturyEngland. By Neil McKendrick,JohnBrewer,and J. H. Plumb.
Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1982. Pp. viii+ 345. $29.95.
Ruth SchwartzCowan
State UniversityofNew Yorkat StonyBrook
The threeeminenthistorianswhose names grace the titlepage of The
Birthofa ConsumerSocietyare noteditorsofthevolumebutitsauthors.
Each has composedone sectionofthebook,and each comesto thecentral
sourcematerials:Neil
topicfroma different
direction,utilizingdifferent
McKendrick'scontribution
(whichis by farthe longest)is economichistory;JohnBrewer's,political;and J. H. Plumb's,social. Optimistswillbe
pleased by the centralmessage that McKendrick,Brewer,and Plumb
want to broadcast;ironically,so will pessimists.
The thesisof the book, brieflystated,is that therewas a consumer
revolutionin Englandduringthe 18thcentury,a revolutionthat(surprisingly)predatedthe advent of industrialization
as well as the advent of
mass production.The authorsreferto themselvesas unrepentantdemand-siderswho hope thatthe publicationof theiressayswill convince
otherhistoriansto stopconcentrating
on thesupplyside of theIndustrial
Revolution(thefacts,technologies,
and impacton workersofalteredand
increasedproduction)and focusinsteadon the demand side (the facts,
technologies,and impact on consumersof altered and increasedconsumption).As an unrepentantskeptic,I must confessthat theymake
theircase verywell as far as theytake it, which,giventhe scarcityof
otherscholarlyresearchwiththisfocus,is notas faras theywouldlike(as
theyfreelyadmit).
McKendrickbegins,in a generalchapter,by suggestingthatthe consumerrevolutionwas heraldedearlyin thecenturybyMandeville(in The
Fable oftheBees) and was confirmed
and endorsedlaterin thecenturyby
Adam Smith(in The WealthofNations).In between,McKendricknotes,
and criticshad noteda risein concernwith"being
manycommentators
fashionable"and a newlyfoundabilityon thepartofthe"poorersort"to
ape their"betters."Historical demographersand economichistorians
have suggestedthe possibilitythatsuch a revolutionmay have occurred
by describing,forexample,the explosivegrowthof London duringthe
century(a consumersocietyneeds a commercialcapital), the steady
growthof the populationduringthe century(whichsuggestsoverallim1366

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Book Reviews
provementin the standardof living,particularlywith regardto food
supply),and the apparentgrowthin domesticratherthan foreigntrade
duringthe century.In threesucceedingchapters,"Commercialization
of
Fashion,""Commercialization
ofthePotteries,"and "Commercialization
of Shaving" (yes, shaving),McKendrickpresentsmasses of evidenceto
demonstrate
thatall themarketing,
and advertising
merchandising,
techniques thatwe may thinkof as unique productsof 20th-century
Yankee
cupidity(plannedobsolescence,loss leaders,fashionmagazines,massive
advertisingcampaigns, fancyshowrooms,conscious panderingto the
elite)were in factinventedby Englishbusinessmenin the 18thcentury.
The crucialpointof thesechaptersis not merelythatthe likesof Josiah
to a high and sophisticatedartWedgwooddeveloped merchandising
and had done so by the 1770s,when the IndustrialRevolutionwas just
gettingup a head of steam and the steam enginehad not even been
patented-but that the businessmenknew theywere aimingat a mass
ratherthan an elite marketand succeededin attractingit. On thislast
but somepointthe evidenceforpotteryis unmistakableand affirming,
what weaker for shaving preparationsand fashionableclothing.For
otherconsumerproducts,it is nonexistentat the moment(due to the
dearthofinvestigations),
as McKendrickapparentlyknows.Nonetheless,
his contribution
leaves no doubt that Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and
Gloria Vanderbiltwould have been rightat homein the 18thcentury,a
notionthatshouldmake loversofHandel and Sheraton-not to mention
collectorsof pricelessWedgwood-flip over in theirsettees.Those who
are prone to blaming"consumerism"on Americanpostindustrial
capitalismshould take noticeas well.
Brewer'scontibution
is ofa different
orderentirely.Commercialization
requires,at the veryleast, flexibleand securesystemsof credit,and he
demonstrates
thatthesedid notexistin Britainin theearly18thcentury.
By mid-century,
tradesmenand artisanswerebandingtogetherto create
new institutions
(amongthem,so-calledcreditclubs) and to bringpolitical pressureto bear in an effortboth to stabilizeand to expand their
creditresources.These clubs and the policiestheyadvocated were the
basis forthe Wilkitemovementof the 1780s and the subsequentradicalism of the 1790s, Brewer argues, seeing the demand for equityin
politicsas a formof oppositionto boththeclienteconomyand thepatrician politicsthathad beendominantearlier.The clubswerealso consumers,lappingup largequantitiesofbeer(theyoftenmetin pubs),as well as
pamphlets,buttons,and souvenirpottery.This is why,Brewersuggests,
brewers(the pun is apparentlycoincidental),publicans, printers,and
potterswere prime supportersof Wilkes. To put it anotherway, the
radicalsof the 18thcenturywere theverysame people who approvedof
and sold to the growingmass market.
Plumb treatsus to a rompthroughthehistoryof theaters,spas, horse
racing,children'sfashions,children'sbooks,dog breeding,pigeonfancying (yes,pigeons),and gardening-all withthe intentof convincingthe
readerthattheleisurelypursuitsand symbolsofstatusthathad oncebeen
1367

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AmericanJournalof Sociology
the exclusive provinceof an elite (privateorchestras,daughterswho
could watercolor,formalgardens,and so forth)filtered
down to themiddle classesand perhapseven lowerbytheend ofthe18thcentury.Taking
his argumentone step further,
Plumb suggestsin his finalchapter,"The
Acceptanceof Modernity,"thattherewas a synergistic
relationbetween
consumerismand the thingsconsumed;that the children'sbooks publishedin suchgreatnumberstowardtheend ofthecenturywereintended
to teach childrento accept modern,progressivevalues; and that the
practicesofdog breeding,choosinghybridseeds,or collectingcabinetsof
fossilsdid thesame fortheirelders.A neatconclusionthat,whichshould
convincehistorians(and perhaps sociologists)that thereis more to the
historyof the mundanethan usuallyfirstmeetsthe eye.
One does nothave to readveryfarintothisvolumeto realizethatin the
great debate between the optimistsand the pessimists,McKendrick,
Brewer,and Plumb alignthemselveswiththeoptimists.They are intent
on showingus that full-scaleindustrialization
was the effect,not the
cause, of at least half-scaleconsumerismand that,on thewhole,people
werebetteroffafterand duringthantheywerebefore.Indeed,theyseem
to me to be implicitlysaying that those 20th-century
pessimistswho
despisetheeffectsofindustrialization
are thevictimsofbothmyopiaand
self-contempt.
Yet, ironically,The Birthofa ConsumerSocietyis likely
selfto giveaid and comfort
to someofthose(ifsuchtheybe) shortsighted
haters.This would includeespeciallythosewho have argued,as E. P.
Thompsondoes in The Making of the English WorkingClass, that the
secondhalfof the 18thcenturywas a kindof goldenage forsegmentsof
theEnglishartisanand laboringclasses,a periodin whichtheyhad both
financialsecurityand spendingpowerabove thewildestdreamsof their
predecessorsand, grievously,theirdescendants.McKendrickrefersto
thisnotiondisparagingly
as the"prelapsarianmyth"(p. 30), perhapsnot
realizingthatin some significant
sensehis own evidencegoes a longway
towardbolsteringit.
The Managed Heart: Commercializationof Human Feeling. By Arlie
Russell Hochschild.Berkeleyand Los Angeles:Universityof California
Press, 1983. Pp. xii+307. $14.95.
TheodoreD. Kemper
St. John'sUniversity
ArlieRussell Hochschildin The Managed Heart has writtentwo books
and mergedthemin a potpourriof text,footnotes,
and appendices.One
book deals withairlineflightattendantsand, to a lesserextent,collection
agencydunnersas examplesof thecommercialization
of emotionalmanagementand display. The second book containsHochschild'stheoryof
emotions,some of whichwas publishedin thisJournalin 1979.
The firstbook arguesthat"emotionallabor" (i.e., "deep acting"in the
1368

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