Culture and consumption : new approaches to the symbolic character of consumer goods and activities

196 Pages·1988·7.775 MB·English

by  Grant David McCracken

CULTURE
AND
CONSUMPTION
a^lUTJUD
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HoiTqMazwoo
CULTURE
AND
CONSUMPTION
New Approaches to the Symbolic
Character of Consumer Goods
and Activities
GRANT McCRACKEN
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
First Midland Book Edition 1990
Permission to reprint the articles below was granted by their original publishers:
“Clothing as Language” (Chapter 4). Reprinted by permission of University Press of America, Inc.
“Meaning Manufacture and Movement in the World of Goods” (Chapter 5) was originally published
as “Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and Movement of the Cultural
Meaning of Consumer Goods,” Journal of Consumer Research 13 (1 June 1986): 71-84. It has been
partially rewritten. Reprinted by permission of the Journal of Consumer Research.
“Consumer Goods, Gender Construction, and a Rehabilitated Trickle-down Theory” (Chapter 6) was
originally published as “The Trickle-Down Theory Rehabilitated” in The Psychology of Fashion, edited
by Michael R. Solomon (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath and Company, copyright
1985, D. C. Heath and Company). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
© 1988 by Grant McCracken
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American
University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only
exception to this prohibition.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCracken, Grant David, 1951-
Culture and consumption.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Consumption (Economics)—History. 2. Culture—
History. 3. Social values—History. I. Title
HC79.C6M385 1988 339.4'7 87-45394
ISBN 0-253-31526-3
ISBN 0-253-20628-6 (pbk.)
3 4 5 6 7 94 93 92 91 90
To the memory of my grandfathers,
Joseph Allan McQuade (1896-1983)
and Elsworth Smith McCracken
(1889-1973)
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Contents
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction xi
Part I. History
One. The Making of Modem Consumption 3
Two. “Ever Dearer in Our Thoughts”: PanVia r/je 31
Representation of Status before and after the
Eighteenth Century
Three. Lois Roget: Curatorial Consumer in a Modern 44
World
Part n. Theory
Four. Clothing as Language: An Object Lesson in the 57
Study of the Expressive Properties of
Material Culture
Five. Meaning Manufacture and Movement in the 71
World of Goods
Part III. Practice
Six. Consumer Goods, Gender Constmction, and a 93
Rehabilitated Trickle-down Theory
Seven. The Evocative Power of Things: Consumer Goods 104
and the Preservation of Hopes and Ideals
Eight. Diderot Unities and the Diderot Effect: 118
Neglected Cultural Aspects of Consumption
Nine. Consumption, Change, and Continuity 130
Notes 139
References I47
Index 167
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