Commodity culture and social class in Dublin 1850-1916 / Stephanie Rains.

By: Rains, Stephanie .

Material type: materialTypeLabel

BookPublisher: Dublin : Irish Academic Press, 2010Description: xiv, 226 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm. + hbk.ISBN: 9780716530695 ; 0716530694 .Subject(s): Consumer behavior -- Ireland -- Dublin -- History -- 19th century | Consumer behavior -- Ireland -- Dublin -- History -- 20th century | Consumption (Economics) -- Ireland -- Dublin -- History -- 19th century | Consumption (Economics) -- Ireland -- Dublin -- History -- 20th century | Dublin (Ireland) -- Social conditions -- 19th century | Dublin (Ireland) -- Social conditions -- 20th centuryDDC classification: 339.470941835

Contents:

Commodity culture in the 1850s : origins and opposition -- Commodity culture in the 1860s and 1870s : consolidation and expansion -- Commodity culture in the 1880s : the politicisation of consumption -- Commodity culture in the 1890s : spectacle, entertainment and orientalism -- Commodity culture after 1900 : empire and Labour politics -- Epilogue : Easter Week 1916.

Summary: Links the growth of the commodity culture to development of mass-produced goods, spread of urban rail and tram systems, and expansion of the middle class in Ireland between the Famine and the 1916 Rising. Charts changing conceptions of shopping as a social or political practice and experiences of Dublin shop workers.

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Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book examines the history of commodity culture in Dublin between the end of the Famine and the 1916 Rising. When Dublin staged the Irish Industrial Exhibition in 1853, it became the first city in the world to copy the international 'Great Exhibition' at the Crystal Palace in London. In the same year, one of the world's first purpose-built department stores opened on Sackville Street in the city center. The development of department stores and 'great exhibitions' in Dublin both reflected and informed the rise of the urban middle classes and modern consumer culture. Linked to the development of mass-produced goods, the spread of urban rail and tram systems, and the expansion of the middle-class suburbs, commodity culture in Dublin grew rapidly throughout the 19th century. The book charts that growth, as well as the changing conceptions of shopping as a social or political practice. It also examines the experiences of Dublin shop workers, including their working conditions, their social and political activities, and the advent of the 'shop girl.'

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Links the growth of the commodity culture to development of mass-produced goods, spread of urban rail and tram systems, and expansion of the middle class in Ireland between the Famine and the 1916 Rising. Charts changing conceptions of shopping as a social or political practice and experiences of Dublin shop workers.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Once the reader gets past the author's idiosyncratic use of terms, this is a profitable and often enjoyable read. Rains (media studies, National Univ. of Ireland, Maynooth) does not employ the concept of "commodity" in the way that any economist uses the term. And "social class" bears no relationship either to Marxian discourse or to the work of empirically driven social scientists. The book is actually about shopping and shopworkers. The discussion focuses on Dublin between the Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853 and WW I, and the details are fascinating. The Exhibition was a notable occurrence in the immediate postfamine era, as was the creation of "monster house" department stores. The evolution of a consumer culture is well described, involving the development of tramlines and suburbs and a nexus of exchange possible only in a city wherein the nation's surplus wealth increasingly was concentrated. The shopworkers' world of high Victorian Dublin may not have been very comfortable, but it was a long way from the vicissitudes of rural subsistence farming. This volume is a useful background piece to the rich trove of Irish literature that takes Dublin as its stage set. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. D. H. Akenson Queen's University