Empire of Things

by Frank Trentmann

  domestic comforts 10, 14, 30–31, 118, 127, 223–4, 225, 244, 245, 341, 356, 358, 362, 370, 375, 677, 678, 688; carpets as litmus test of American home comfort 224; and consumer revolution 222–71; furnishings see furnishings; house architecture and the culture of comfort 246–7; standards of comfort 673

  domestic sociability 30, 87

  Dominicans 84

  Dore, Ronald 383

  Double Pearl toothpaste 358

  Douelle 302

  Douglas, Mary 324, 627

  Downing, Andrew Jackson 246–7

  dowries 203, 382

  drapers 192

  Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng) 26, 52

  Dresden 86, 88, 187, 188, 336–7, 586, 587

  dress see clothes; fashion

  drink/drinking see also chocolate; coffee; tea: alcohol see alcohol; and class 90, 164, 340; drinking championships 333; drinking games 52; drinking habits 9, 90, 164, 166, 340, 566; and emulation 90; and hedonism 291; and Irish identity 600; and sociability 52; soft drinks 168, 339, 485, 528, 582, 588, 618

  drugs see also alcohol; cocoa/cacao; coffee; tea; tobacco: exotic drugs and the era of free trade 168; fight against hazardous drugs 550; hashish 142; opium 73, 110, 140, 142; popularization of exotic drug foods 78–93

  dry cleaning 328, 532

  Du Bois, W. E. 238–9

  Duala 132–3, 252

  dualism, Cartesian 95, 230–31

  Dubai 618

  Duchamp, Marcel 636

  Dufayel (department store) 200, 410

  Duhamel, Georges: Scenes de la vie future 283

  durable goods see consumer durables

  dustbins 629–30, 633, 648

  dusting 222, 226

  dustyards 628

  Dutch East Indies 26, 90, 164, 172

  Dutch National Bank 563

  Dutch people see Netherlands/the Dutch

  Dutch Republic 4, 10, 54–8

  DVDs 387, 533

  Dynamo Dresden 526

  e-bay 654, 658

  e-commerce 481–2, 654, 658

  earning power 309 see also spending power

  earthenware 57, 60, 61, 62, 88, 89, 623

  East India Company, Dutch (VOC) 25–6, 57, 69, 70

  East India Company, English (EIC) 25–6, 64, 65, 70, 85, 89, 92, 120, 139

  Easterlin, Richard 452

  eating see also food: in China 357; and class 587–8, 604–5; and control of one’s life 324; family meals 14, 461; with friends 467; gender and eating roles 14; at home 14, 353, 376, 461; Irish 599–600; meat 2, 588, 598–9, 604, 675, 684; in migrant food cultures 596–602, 603–5; and the misery U-index 454; national eating habits 166; out 353, 448, 602, 605, 685 see also restaurants; overeating 106–7, 339; power of eating habits 9; rituals 14; slaves eating English food 170; and sociability 14, 155; time spent on 454

  Eaton’s (department store) 203

  Eco, Umberto 315

  economics 2, 91, 140, 151–2; affluent budgets 338–9; budget studies 147–50, 283; consumption and the German national/historical school of 116, 153, 154; and the discovery of the consumer 147–54; economists’ approach to consumption 119, 147–54; and ethics 151; extension of economic theory into daily life matters 427; GDP see gross domestic product; home economists 256; Keynesianism 427–8; spending power see spending power

  Economist 611

  economy: depression 273, 274, 278–88, 405, 413, 414; of East Germany 335; economic growth 11, 273, 278, 303, 324, 325, 364, 368, 394, 411, 415, 540, 639, 677; emotional 685; European economic expansion 28; foreign luxuries and local economy 41; GDP see gross domestic product; inflation 274, 275, 343, 415, 614, 619; Japan’s economic crisis and ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s 371, 384, 498, 534; moral economy 278, 563, 571, 578, 581; recession 287, 403, 405, 420, 426, 428, 521, 668, 683; scarcity economy 332; shadow economy 330; sharing/leasing economy 687–8; and sustained growth of affluence 301, 302; Total Material Requirement 665, 668

  Ecuador 80, 162, 476

  Eden, Ashley 143

  Eden, Frederic 75

  Edo 176, 181, 358, 472 see also Tokyo

  education 3, 12, 142, 288; and advertising 485, 489; in Asia 372, 407; benefits from fair trade 579; company-based 523; consumer education 393–4; ‘consumer’s view of adult education’ 285; educational films 215; English education in British empire 142; home science 256; learning through play 488; and leisure 448–9, 451, 465–9, 467; schools see schools; Soviet 330, 331–2; spending on 148, 304, 326, 537; and taste 214, 548

  efficiency 140, 150, 237, 246, 247, 398, 412, 667, 672–5, 686, 688; campaigns 634; energy efficiency 671–3; and the internet 687; rational 270, 360; and socialism 644–5

  Egypt, ancient 68

  Egypt, modern 202, 299–300, 593; remittances 590, 593

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. 307

  El Puente foundation 575

  elderly people 429–30, 498–519; abuse/neglect of 516; in Asian societies 508, 509, 516–19; as consumers 429–30, 498–519; day centres for 503; facilitating forces of active ageing 501–4; German 200, 332, 499, 507–9, 512, 513; golden age club movement 503–4, 505; leisure and holidays 450, 498–519; pensions see pensions; post-war 506–7; retirement see retirement; Scandinavian 507, 508, 509, 510, 557; and sport 515

  electric cookers 240, 248, 249, 253, 364–5, 554

  electric labour-saving devices in the home see domestic appliances and technologies

  electric lights 192, 208, 367

  electric switches 248–9

  electricity 4, 175, 181, 248–9, 253, 672; in Asia 367–8, 391–2; in Brazil 527; providers 248, 392

  electronic waste 622, 652, 653, 664; recycling 662–4

  electroplating 225–6

  elevators 192–3

  Elias, Norbert 294

  elite 29, 52, 84, 92, 169–70, 180, 228, 283–4, 340, 345, 436–7, 605, 680; Asian 52, 139, 140, 141, 142, 146, 381; British 59, 397; colonial 80; communist 294–5; French 340, 345, 346; women 74

  Elizabeth I 39

  Elmtown, America 497–8

  email 464, 465, 470, 471

  embroidery 25, 35, 36, 48, 252, 293

  Emin Pasha (born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer) 171

  emotions: and comfort 270; emotional economy 685; emotional needs 321; growing interest in 682; mass culture diffusing ready-made emotions 315; separated from reason 274; tied to goods 104–5, 315–16, 320–21, 337, 686

  empire/empires: African consumption and empire 124–36; America as a ‘market empire’ 307; Atlantic empire 92; Bat’a empire 525; British empire see British empire; British Raj 137–46, 296–8; and capitalism 160; colonial protection and the tug of war between empires 120; colonialism see colonialism; consumption and the stain of empire 357; costs and benefits of empire debate 91, 160–61; as engines of expansion 90; Hobson’s attack on empire 119, 158, 161; and the housewife 300; impact on taste and ritual 78–93, 119, 170–71; imperialism see imperialism; and the imperium of things 119–73; Indian switch from Mughal to British rule 137–8; interplay of consumption, flow of goods and imperial power 120; liberal empire of free trade 91, 120–21, 122, 140, 141, 146, 161, 163–4, 167, 572 see also British empire; mercantilist empire 91, 92, 161, 163, 164; Mughal empire 137, 138, 142; national identity defined in opposition to empire 379; and popularization of exotic drug foods 78–93; Russian empire 204; schizophrenic 135–6; Spanish empire see Spanish empire; and the value of origin 169–71; writing out the colonial producer 173

  empiricism 96

  employment see labour and work

  empowerment: through choice 288, 557, 559, 560, 567; of the consumer 6, 203, 260, 287, 288, 295, 557, 559, 560, 567; through domestic appliances 260; through shopping 6, 203; of women 6, 260

  emulation 13, 14, 90, 165, 328, 677 see also conspicuous consumption; imitation; status and social positioning; discomfort with 143; equality and emulative consumption 438; as parent of demand 14, 73; in spending, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ 8, 316, 325, 340, 374, 383, 438

  Endrigo
, Sergio 352

  energy: American sources, demands and consumption 325, 671–3; British domestic consumption 672, 674; cheap energy and high wages 72; companies 367; efficiency 671–3; embedded/embodied 629, 670, 671, 673; EU government expenditure on 538; growth in use 672, 674, 678; and material flow 670; waste-to-energy plants 632

  Engel, Ernst 148

  Engel’s law 148, 149

  Engels, Friedrich 113, 114, 115

  England: bankruptcy in 432; Beer Act (1830) 476; and the ‘birth’ of the consumer society 10, 73; Black Death 58; comfort trade-offs 61; Community Health Councils 556; consumer culture 58–63, 61, 62, 65–6, 71–2, 76–7; ‘consumer revolution’ in 17th century 22; debt in 1700 407; early modern 4, 537; elderly people 506, 509–11; Elizabethan 59–60; English as controllers of most ‘good things’ 132; excesses as a drain on wealth 97; farmers’ markets 582; middle classes 117; as missionary nation 126; Parliamentary Committee on Illicit Practices 65; people with holiday homes 655; Poor Law 537; prudence 116; rent 243–4, 555; Shops Act (1911) 476; Stuart England 59; sumptuary laws for clothes 39, 40; Sunday trading 476, 478–9; Sunday Trading Act (1994) 478; trade 26–7, 582; Tudor 60; urban density 93; Victorians see Victorians; wages 58; wealth increase 103

  Enlightenment 95–110, 158, 231, 413; and battle against slavery 123–4; and religion 606

  Ensslin, Gudrun 322

  entertainment see also leisure: affluence and cheap entertainment 455; cinema see cinema; film; colonial planters 161; and conspicuous consumption 228; and the emotional economy 685; equipment 14; and generational bonds 521; growing islands of 281; home entertainment 15 see also DVDs; gramophones; radio; television; and mass culture 315; positive role of play the pursuit of pleasure 218–19; salotto, room for 30; street entertainment 191; Sunday 475, 476–7; as therapy for the elderly 505; urban entertaining spaces 210–21; and wealthy youth 216

  environment: climate change 560, 666; ecological footprint 15, 675, 686, 687, 689; environmental justice campaigns 669; Green movement 639, 644; greenhouse gases see greenhouse gas emissions; and material flow 664–75; mining damage 15, 683–4; ‘NIMBY’ 669; outsourcing environmental burden 669–70; past damage to 676; pollution see pollution; recycling and environmental awareness 652 see also recycling of waste; and the shedding of possessions 685–6; sustainability see sustainability; and waste see waste

  equality and inequality see inequalities; social equality

  Equipment Installment Plans (EIP) 658

  Erhard, Ludwig 308, 309

  escapism 305

  Esselunga (Italian supermarket) 350

  Este, Isabella d’, Marchesa of Mantua 31

  Estonia 547

  ethics see also morality: and economics 151; ethical consumerism 128, 155–7, 565–80 see also fair trade; fairness see fair trade; fairness; global ethic of care 573, 584; Golden Rule 572; Puritan work ethic 450, 455; and shopping 155, 390, 567, 569 see also fair trade; and wise consumption 289

  Euclid Beach Park 218

  Europe: annual growth rates in affluence and consumption, 1950s to early 1970s 273; ‘cashing out’ on the home 428; credit 409, 415; domestic appliance adoption 247; early modern 8, 38–43, 53–63, 65–6, 70–77, 398, 678; Eastern 123, 301, 313, 326–37, 427, 461, 463, 535, 598, 600, 607, 644–6 see also Soviet Union; economic expansion 28; EU see European Union; export of plastic waste 652; and the fall of Nazism 300–301; fitness wave 544; GDP 24; and the Iron Curtain 301, 327 see also Cold War; and leisure 449–52, 456, 458–9; merchants 25; and remittances 590; secularization and decline in church-going 479, 606, 607; silver mines 25; smartphones 464; spending on recycling 648; spread of consumer goods from 1950s to 1980s 301; sumptuary laws see sumptuary laws; trade/traders 23, 64, 124, 129; waste and recycling regions 644, 645; waste generation lowering 640–41; and the World Wars see First World War; Second World War; youth spending power 312

  European Court of Justice 559, 560

  European Social Survey (2004/5) 426–7

  European Union 245, 439, 559, 560; European Economic and Social Committee 560; Landfill Directive 640; recycling 640, 652, 653; Single European Act 559; social spending 537, 537, 538, 541; and waste 640, 648, 652

  Eurovision Song Contest 352

  evangelicalism 128, 608–9 see also Pentecostalism; Calvinist 57, 58, 614; Methodist/Wesleyan 133, 612; Presbyterian 384; prosperity gospel 610–11, 615; Puritan see Puritanism; televangelism 610–11

  Everyday Life Reform League (Japan) 250, 256–7

  Ewha, Seoul 384

  Ewing, Oscar 504

  excess, extravagance and opulence 15, 36–7, 49, 55, 97, 100, 103, 106, 294, 302, 382, 405, 407, 434–9, 610; in Asia 48–9, 374, 384–5, 390, 407; and corruption 35–6, 51; and debt 406–7, 428, 431; effects on public 8, 15, 35–6, 302; fears of 41; in funerals 39, 48, 382, 399; imperial spectacle 140–41; sumptuary laws see sumptuary laws; of uncultured nouveau riche (Sombart) 416; wealth as mother of 57; in weddings 8, 37, 39, 41, 48, 596; women’s ‘senseless extravagance’ (Gilman) 228

  exotic goods 4, 10, 32, 96, 162, 167–71, 602–3, 678 see also silk; spices; Turkish carpets; beverages 166, 603, 678 see also coffee; tea; foods/drug foods 58, 78–93, 120, 165, 168, 579, 601; and nationalism 168–9

  expenditure surveys 319

  Exposition Universelle (Paris 1867) 193

  extravagance see excess, extravagance and opulence

  Fabri, Friedrich 134

  Facebook 465, 470

  factories 89, 153, 293, 525, 528, 638; directors 336; factory homes 457; factory labour/labourers 79, 166, 210, 214, 239, 260, 294, 337; factory production 146; factory textiles 139; owners 177, 195; Soviet 330

  Faentino, Andrea 31–2

  fair trade 562–71, 564, 681; activism 567, 570–71; advertising 567; branding/labelling 565–6, 570, 577; and choice 563, 566–70; and the co-operative movement 578, 579; education benefits 579; Fairtrade Fortnight 562; global sales of fair trade products 562, 564, 564; health benefits 579; ‘lifestyle’ presentation 567; versus localism 584; origins of 571–80; and responses to globalization 568–9; scale problem of 570; and security 579; shops/world shops 564, 565, 566, 574–5, 576; as a social movement 565, 566, 567, 570–71; and supermarkets 562, 565, 568, 579; towns 562, 568

  fairness 343–4, 549, 565–6; fair trade see fair trade; in public services 549, 561; unfairness 276, 335, 336

  fairs 203

  family: 4–2–1 phenomenon 372; activities 14, 309, 340–41; aristocratic European family networks 84; Asian 363, 364, 365, 367, 382–3, 384, 385, 517–18, 520; choice and rebuilding of post-war family 308; conspicuous consumption as moral threat to 380; extended 145, 260, 382; familycentred happiness 256; family-oriented consumption/consumerism 260, 324, 340–41, 382–3; and generational bonds 520–21; income 147–50, 409, 425, 519; meals 14, 461; planning 365; possessions and family memory 104, 686; privatizing effect of gifted consumer goods on 596; recreational spending 148, 339; time spent with children 461

  farmers 44, 47, 54, 55, 73, 75, 203, 634, 649; farmers’ markets 580, 581, 582, 583, 584

  fascism 11, 16, 273, 289, 533; and ‘consumerism’ as totalitarian 5, 7; Nazi see Nazism

  fashion 4, 21, 678 see also clothes; African craze for 135; in Burgundy 69; centres of fashion network 204; children’s 485, 486–7; Chinese 21–2, 44, 46, 47, 49, 69; and the cinema 281–2; codes of dress 40; and the conservative order 41; customization 138; disposable 636; dolls 71; as driver of demand or innovation 22, 67; exotic fashion and antiestablishment politics 323; as heart of Western capitalism 22; and imperialist subjugation 379; magazines 70–71, 200; male 200–201, 315; merchants as ambassadors of 38; as product of East–West exchange 88; radical use of 323; sapping effect on nation 109; shows 528; Soviet cravings for style and 302; and subcultures 6; and sumptuary laws 39–40; teenage 498; women’s 21, 42, 46, 48, 52, 60, 65, 67, 69, 149, 150, 282, 498, 528

  Fashion magazine 200

  Fazal, Anwar 552

  Federal Housing Administration 286, 341, 4
13

  Fedorova, E. M. 294

  Feer, Arman: Poubelle de Jim Dine 636

  Fei Hsiao-Tung 368

  Fellini, Federico 515

  feminists 142–3, 157, 228, 316, 323

  Ferguson, Mr 127

  Ferrero, Anna Maria 315

  Ferrero, Michele, (‘Mr Nutella’) 611

  Ferrero Rocher 611

  Ferris, Elmer 501–2

  Festival di Sanremo 351–2

  Ficino, Marilio 35

  Fidenza, Italy 585

  film see also cinema: American 211, 307, 328, 347; censorship 312; children’s 489; company film 527; corruption through 216, 307; educational 215; feeding aspiration 282–3, 301–2; festivals 685; French films on French TV 353; Indian film portraying family, love and home comforts 382; in Iran 616, 617; length 213–14; local films 214; and migrants 214–15; mobile phones and personal film-making 465; photos and social networking 465; Tarzan films 312; and youth culture 312–13

  finance capitalism 119

  finance imperialism 160

  Finland 12, 270, 319, 352–3, 509, 548, 558, 566; company leisure activities 531; debt and loans 431, 433; and the home 245, 419, 428, 643; localism 584–5; and religious identity 612; savings 364, 418, 419, 420, 421, 679; social spending 539; sports facilities 545; Sunday restrictions 478; tango 352–3

  firm services see company services, and corporate-led consumption

  First World War 172, 237, 261, 274–6, 363; and China 299; and home science 256; legacies of 276–8; loggers in Pacific North-west during 524; radio and morse code 264; rent controls 243; and thrift 256, 277–8

  Fischer, Emmanuel von 118

  Fishof, Ohad 441

  Fitoussi, Jean-Paul 539

  flâneurs/flâneurie 194, 306, 310, 441

  Florence 22, 23, 28, 29, 32, 36, 38; Platonic Academy 35; standard of living 72, 72

  Flower, Raymond 513

  food: and armed forces 543; banks 338–9; calories mattering more than cuisine 345; cheap food era (1975–2007) 564; company food 524–5, 531–2; cooking see cooking; and cultural divide 340; eating see eating; ethnic food and racial prejudice 600–601; exotic tastes in 58, 78–93, 120, 165, 579, 601; fair-trade see fair trade; family meals 14, 461; fast-food/convenience food 357, 493, 531, 544, 588, 622; global advance of Mediterranean cuisine 603; and GM opposition 585, 586; Indian food marketing 380, 601; Japanese 543, 585; kosher 600; meat see meat; migrant food cultures 596–602, 603–5; ‘national’ cuisines 597–8; NHS hospital meals 522; organic 581, 584–6, 605; packaging 622, 635–6; price drops and the erosion of class-based diets 587–8, 604–5; price protests 159, 278; prices in company stores 524; regional food and local networks 169–73, 580–88; school meals 543–4; Slow Food movement 442, 470, 580, 581, 587; spending on 338, 339, 340; state regulation of ethnic cuisine 603–4; status and ethnic food cultures 602; storage 651; trust in food system 584; uneven distributions of 573; waste 625, 626, 627, 629, 631, 644, 648–51, 682; and The Week-end Book 462