Empire of Things

by Frank Trentmann

  Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase ) 48, 51

  Jingdezhen 44, 88

  Johannesburg 252

  Johansen, Hans-Peter 337

  John Paul II 606

  Johnson, Lyndon B. 304, 501

  jollyboys 60

  jukeboxes 311–12

  Kaffee-Messmer 172

  Kahneman, Daniel 453

  kakusa shakai 371

  Kallen, Horace 289

  Kambli, Konrad 118

  Kames, Henry Home, Lord 102

  Kant, Immanuel 95

  Karo women 142

  Karstadt (department store) 199

  Katona, George 340, 342

  Keep Sunday Special Campaign 479

  Kekkonen, Urho 419

  Kelley, Florence 156

  Kellogg’s 517

  Kennedy, John F. 550–51, 552; Consumer Bill of Rights (1962) 387, 550–51, 553

  Kent 61, 76

  Kenya 573, 591, 594

  Kerala 365, 379–80, 381

  Keynes, John Maynard 284–5, 420, 445, 449

  Keynesianism 427–8

  khadi 297–8

  khat 80, 168

  Khatris of Benares 146

  Khmer Rouge 680

  Khomeini, Ruhollah 616

  Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich 327, 329–30

  kimono 358

  kinetoscopes 212

  King, Gregory 59

  King, Martin Luther 324–5

  Kipling, Rudyard 124

  Kirov works 294–5

  kitchens 14, 189, 222, 240, 242, 249–51; first electric kitchen 249; Frankfurt Kitchen 249–50; functionalist 249–50, 270; Moscow exhibition kitchen debate 329; in Shanghai 249, 250; shared 225; as social spaces 674–5; standardized, built-in 240, 250; toilets in 189; working class 270

  Kleenex 631

  kleptomaniacs 197

  Klopp, Jürgen 563

  knitting frame 59

  Knonau, Gerold Meyer von 117

  Knossos 626

  Knox Hat Company 494–5

  Kocher, Emil Theodor 118

  Kohler, Walter 240

  Kohler Company 240

  kola nuts/extract 80, 168

  Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) 375

  Kolonialwarenladen 164

  Kombinat Haushaltsgeräte 336

  Kon Wajiro 359, 378

  Korea: Korean War 307, 504, 542; North 607; South see South Korea

  Kozintsev, Grigori 292

  Kracauer, Siegfried 211–12, 215

  Kritischer Konsum 576

  Krueger, Alan 453

  Krupp, Alfred 523

  Krupp steel maker 166, 523

  Kyoto 358

  Kyrk, Hazel 239, 289

  La Pradelle, Michele de 583

  La Roque, Jean de 87, 90, 92

  labelling 6, 68–9, 156, 565–6, 570, 577 see also branding

  labour and work: absenteeism 471, 529, 530, 531; balance between work and leisure 443–55, 446; children’s 133, 156, 287, 485, 490; consumption as part of labour exchange 59–60; department stores and the creation of new work 196; DIY 260–61, 262, 292; and early deprivation 309; factory labour/labourers 79, 166, 210, 214, 239, 260, 294, 337; free labour 91, 122, 129; housework see housework; and idleness see idleness; ‘industrious revolution’ 74–5; industry and the wage worker 1; the labourer as a consumer 117; Marx and the exploitation of 113; migrant labour/workers 58, 64, 334, 383, 512 see also remittances, migrant worker; non-wage benefits see company leisure activities; company services, and corporate-led consumption; holidays: paid; part-time 480, 481; polarization of work and leisure 443, 455, 468–73; principle of equivalence of work and play 503; Puritan work ethic 455; and remittances see remittances, migrant worker; slave labour see slavery/slaves; as source of wealth 449; specialization/division 24, 54, 110; sweated labour/goods and sweatshops 128, 155, 156, 184, 355, 567, 578; travelling/commuting to work 14, 200, 340, 454, 457, 685, 686; unpaid work 144–5, 447, 448, 450, 458 see also housework; US industrial worker hours 216; women’s 43, 281, 447, 457, 480, 481, 659 see also housework; ‘work hard, play hard’ motto 468; working conditions 157; working hours 75, 133, 216, 403, 443–4, 445, 446, 447, 449–51, 477 see also Sundays

  Labour Party, UK 303, 304, 343–4, 346–7, 554, 640; New Labour 548, 549

  Lady Guide Association 198

  Lady’s Shopping Manual 201

  Lahire, Bernard 346

  Lancet 167

  land theft 133

  landfills 626, 632, 634, 640, 642, 644

  Lang, Olga 359–60, 368–9

  Lange, Cornelis Pieterse de 55

  laozi 191

  Lascia o raddoppia? 321

  Latin America see also specific countries: Central America 80, 334; cities 176; consumers 170; Council of Ambato 476; environmental burden from traded goods 669; French supermarket chains in 349; gas consumption 176; maté revolution 80–81; musical influences from 352; neutral overseas markets of 160; New World see New World; outsourcing environmental burden to 669; Pentecostalist revival 613–14; Sundays and the seven-day week 476; urban density 93, 174

  Latour, Bruno 95

  laundry 186, 253, 254–6, 258, 673 see also washing machines

  lavatories see toilets

  Lawson, Mr (merchant) 129

  Lazarsfeld, Paul 266, 267, 279–80

  Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris) 525

  Le Play, Frédéric 148

  Le Strange, Lady Alice 60

  Le Strange, Sir Hamon 60

  League of Nations 285, 573

  Lears, T. J. Jackson 230–31

  leasing initiatives 682

  lechery 36

  Leeds 176, 554, 632

  Lefebvre, Henri 208, 209, 210, 325

  Legrand d’Aussy, Pierre Jean-Baptiste 90

  Leiden 54

  leisure 455–73 see also entertainment; activities 14, 252, 340, 456–60, 458, 459, 462–3, 467, 469, 680 see also games; handicrafts; hobbies; reading; recreation; socializing; sports; and affluence 443, 452, 455, 456, 460–63, 468–70, 483; in Africa 471–2; Aristotelian ideal of 52, 455; balance between work and 443–55, 446; and the blending of immigrant cultures 219–20; for British in India 141; budgets 219; and children 451; in China 472; civic life equated with fun 340–41; and class 455, 466, 468–9; as a Cold War battleground 329; communal leisure halls 545; company leisure see company leisure activities; and conspicuous consumption 228; and consumption 228, 456–73; as core element of public concern and policy 9; and creativity 456, 472, 507; defining 456–7; democratization of 483; and education 448–9, 451, 465–9, 467; and the elderly 450, 498–519; and the elite 680; as escapism 305; expansion of commercial leisure from late 19th century 344; familycentred 309, 340–41; ‘frigidaire-socialism’ 327; games see games; gap between Americans and Europeans 449–52, 456; and generational bonds 521; from high productivity 287; holidays see holidays; home leisure 309, 340–41, 459; hours/time 301, 444–50, 446, 447, 451–2, 460, 469 see also time; hyper-active 341, 466–7, 469, 483, 527; and ICT 460, 464–5, 471; and industrialization 215, 456; ‘involuntary’ leisure of unemployment 261, 279 see also unemployment; in Japan 472–3, 545; and the ‘kid in the candy store’ syndrome 443, 460, 463; ‘the leisured classes’ 455; magazines 310; Marshall on 153; in middle age 483; and mobility 458–9, 460; and morality 216; national time-use surveys 454, 457–8, 458–9; noble leisure in India 137; parks see parks; play see play; plebeian 137; polarization of work and 443, 455, 468–73; and political rights 157; the poor as the new leisure class 449; quality 218, 443, 456, 468–9, 483; ‘rational recreation’ 216, 456, 545–6; and reading habits 354; recreation see recreation; retirement for 450, 500; revolution 443–55, 482–3; as a serious business 469–70; shift from passive to active 469–70, 473, 506; and shopping 93, 191, 480–82; as a social problem 215–16; under socialism 327, 545–6; society (Freizeitgesellschaft) 302; spending on 340, 342, 347; sport see sports; state-supported 544–8; as a ‘threat’ 456; traded for income 6–7; vicarious 228;
and the Victorians 216, 455; war over 216–17; and well-being 452–5; women’s leisure in the home 255–6, 447–8; women’s patchwork of 483; ‘work hard, play hard’ motto 468; youth 216–19

  Lenin, Vladimir 119, 158

  Leningrad 292, 294, 295, 546

  Lepanto, Battle of 38

  Lesotho 589–90

  Lever 254

  Levine, Harry 503

  Levitt, R. A. H. 554

  Lewis, Sinclair 240–42

  Lewis’s 200

  Lexington, Kentucky 212

  LG Corporation 535

  Li Bozhong 73

  Li Dou 49

  liberalism 5, 75, 116–17, 572, 680; and credit 411; credit liberalization 419–20; and home decoration 226; Indian liberalization (from 1991) 357, 379–80, 381, 389–90; liberal empire of free trade 91, 120–21, 122, 140, 141, 146, 161, 163–4, 167, 572 see also British empire; and markets 121, 273, 522, 680; neo-liberalism 5, 273, 389, 391, 392, 403, 522, 549, 553, 567; and Paul VI 576

  Liberty 226, 618

  libraries 30, 154, 181, 183, 194, 206, 216, 327, 375, 523, 546, 547; multimedia 533; web-based 658, 661

  Liebknecht, Wilhelm 115

  life-insurance 424

  Life magazine 305, 435

  lifestyle see also comfort; luxury: of the ‘68ers’ 321–3; American export of consumer lifestyle 307; ‘American way of life’ 9, 543, 679; bad press for bulging lifestyles 685–6; balance between work and leisure 443–55, 446; of comfort and security 392 see also comfort; domestic comforts; security; company lifestyle 526 see also company services, and corporate-led consumption; company towns; of consumer culture see consumer culture; ‘consumer society’ as way of life 302, 305–6, 680–81 see also consumer society; of convenience see convenience; of credit 412 see also credit; cultured (kul’turnost’) 294–6; disposable lifestyle and the ‘throwaway society’ 622–75; ecological burden on others at a distance 665; of the elderly 498–519; environmental impact 2, 665, 676, 689–90 see also environment; waste; excessive lifestyles punished by Communist Party of China 374; fair trade’s presentation as a lifestyle 567; and freedom 274, 321 see also choice; freedom; the ‘good life’ 6, 12, 292, 302, 591, 614, 680, 681; high-flying consumer lifestyle 689; of idleness see idleness; Japanese 257, 383–4; ‘live now, pay later’ lifestyle 405–40 see also credit; marketing 226; material lifestyle 220, 274, 340, 510 see also material culture; of migrants 596–7 see also migration; mission stations as islands of Western lifestyle 126; multi-tasking 471, 689; office (shenghuo fangshi ban) 398; and organic food 581; pace of life 441–3, 470, 471, 506; private lifestyles and socialist regimes 333, 375–6, 377; privatized 329, 376–7; and public debate over social/environmental consequences 689–90; of Shanghai professionals 374; shared goal of a material lifestyle 274; sharing lifestyle 687–8; shift in life orientation to the home, with privatization 376–7; slow movement 441–2, 689; and social norms 688; solo living 500, 654; spiritual see spiritual life; standard of living see standard of living; standardized living 525; state interventions and materially intensive lifestyle 688–9; suburban consumer 305; sustainable see sustainability; toleration between parents and children 520; and trade justice 577; ‘wholesome consumer lifestyle’ 363

  lifts (store elevators) 192–3

  lighting 15, 175; electric 192, 208, 671; gas lights 176, 178, 181–2; street 176, 181–2

  Ligon, Richard 27

  Ligue Sociale d’Acheteurs 155, 159

  Lima 80

  Lin Sumen 21

  Lincoln Plating 530–31

  Linder, Staffan: The Harried Leisure Class 460

  Lindert, Peter 537

  linen 30, 31, 32, 34, 54, 55, 57, 60, 61, 65, 66, 67, 124, 203

  lipstick 252, 281, 359, 617, 618

  lithography 226

  litter campaigns 639

  Liverpool 60, 124, 161, 176, 179, 193, 243–4, 506; Deacon waste-water meter 187; Lewis’s 200; moneylenders 408

  living conditions 41–2, 75 see also standard of living

  loan sharks 361, 367, 412, 440

  localism 169–73, 580–88, 605

  Locke, John 488

  Lockheed 531

  locks 226

  lofts 249, 657, 660, 662, 674

  Lokomotive Moscow 526

  London 38, 39, 58, 59, 60, 155, 174, 175; antiques boom 227; Asian immigrant families 596–7; Balham Empire 212; bone china production 89; as centre of fashion network 204; cinemas 212, 213; the City 182; coffee houses 86; consumer defence leagues 184; consumer groups in 19th century 391; contraband goods 65; dustyards 628; East End 180, 209, 521; farmers’ markets 582; Finsbury Park 186; gas consumption 176; Great Exhibition (1851) 193; Hammersmith 475, 506, 509; Harlesden 596–7; lodging houses 63, 88; ‘macaronis’ 196; and migrant food cultures 597, 600; New Exchange 59; paupers 63; pawnshops 408; riot over prohibition of Sunday trading 476; shopping galleries 192; shopping rhythms 209; Shoreditch 186, 187; South London Gas Consumers’ Mutual Association 183; Spitalfields 65; standard of living 72, 72; street lighting 181–2; toilets 179, 189; waste sorting plants 630; water consumption 185–6, 187, 188; water supply 178, 180, 182, 185; women in 76; a working class Sunday in 1949, south London 473–4, 475

  lone parents 431, 451

  loneliness 500

  Long Beach Golden Tours 511–12

  Los Angeles 1, 588, 648, 661–2

  Lotto, Lorenzo 68

  Lourdes 611

  Lu Ji 99

  Lucca 29

  Lucknow 137, 138, 141, 389

  Lucknow Developing Authority vs M. K. Gupta 389

  Lueb, Lydia 457

  Lugard, Frederick 133

  Luna Park 218, 219

  lust: carnal 8, 36; for distinction 229; for luxurious living 35; and original sin 8; for things see desire for things

  Luton 344

  Luxembourg 275

  luxury: and art 30; brands 439; Chinese customers for luxury goods 47; and the Church 36, 118, 610–11, 614–15; cities catering for 174; and coffee drinking 87; ‘with a conscience’ 567; and conspicuous consumption 15 see also conspicuous consumption; and the corrosion of nobility 100; and corruption 35–6, 51, 100, 677; counterfeit luxury goods 439; debate 99–101; democratization of 413; different markets of 439; diffusion of 116; Dutch management of temptations of 57–8; extravagant see excess, extravagance and opulence; fever 403, 434, 435, 439; foreign luxuries and local economy 41; furnishings 37, 60, 224–5; groups 439; and health problems 106–7; Hume on 101; in India 137, 139, 142; and inequality 434–9; ‘innocent luxury’ 100, 104, 105–6, 111, 118, 363; items from vending machines 370; and lechery 36; luxury goods and the advancement of knowledge 97; as a mass market 399; middle class as first to embrace luxuries 117; ‘modest luxury’ 413; Nazi promise of 290; normalizing of 363; and Plato 35; post-war denunciations in Japan 363; quest for 35; and self-expression 439; semi-luxuries 88, 89; in the service of posterity 33; sexualization of 36; shops in East Germany 334; in slave-holding societies 123; Sombart on 416; South Korean anti-luxury campaigns 384–5; sumptuary laws see sumptuary laws; suspicion/fear of 36, 97, 112; taxes 331; trades 28, 29, 537 see also silk; spices; Venetian banning of luxurious furnishings 37; wars 99, 616; and waste 15

  LVMH 439

  Lynd, Robert S. and Lynd, Helen Merrell 248, 259, 280–81

  Ma Ying Piu 193

  Ma Yueguan 52–3

  Ma Yuelu 52–3

  Macao 25

  ‘macaronis’ 196

  Machida City 647

  Macmillan, Harold 308

  Macy’s 261, 295

  Maddison, Angus 443, 444

  Madras 298

  Madrid 174

  magazine-reading 354

  Magazine a la Mode, or Fashionable Miscellany 70–71

  magic lanterns 213

  Mahdavikia, Mehdi 617

  Mahmud II 299

  mahogany 170

  mail order 416–17, 524

  Maison Legras, La 226

  majolica pottery 30, 31, 32

&n
bsp; Major Government, ‘Citizen Charter’ 389

  Malaysia 22, 27, 263, 268, 379, 552

  Malinowski, Bronislaw 321

  Mallorca 512

  Malthus, Thomas 115–16

  Malvern 188

  Manchester 66, 141, 174, 179, 188, 219, 498, 554

  Manchester United 526

  Manchu 80

  Mandari, Moshi ruler 132

  Mandeville, Bernard 94, 98, 101, 102, 106–7

  Manhattan 186, 218; Museum of Modern Art 262

  Manheim 215

  Manila 25, 26

  Mann family 251

  Mao Zedong 357, 369, 472

  Maoism 357, 368–70, 374, 472

  Maratha court 139

  Marconi, Guglielmo 264

  Marcuse, Herbert 7, 317, 325

  marginal utility 151–2

  Marienthal, Austria 279–80

  Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso 441, 636

  market halls 207–8, 209

  market research 69, 291, 315–17, 319–20, 330, 332, 343, 516; children working for 485; with Motivational Research 315–16; youth market 485, 495

  marketing 9, 287, 317–20 see also advertising; market research; boards 319; British marketing of an airbrushed ‘India’ 601; Indian food 380, 601; lifestyle 226; and nationalism 298; propaganda 69, 616; targeting children 485, 487, 489–90; targeting the elderly 517

  markets see also trade: and affluence 12; America as a ‘market empire’ 307; Atlantic 76 see also Atlantic trade; black market 65, 330 see also smuggling; children’s 216, 217, 484–94; consumption as neo-liberal story of choice and 273, 403, 522; debt as a global market 426; England in 18th century as model of 10; farmers’ 580, 581, 582, 583, 584; growth of trade and 2, 3, 23–4, 25, 53, 57, 92–3, 122, 131, 327, 682–3; investment in neutral overseas markets 160; and labour specialization/division 24, 54; and liberalism 121, 273, 522, 680 see also free trade; of luxury 439; market exchange 9, 11; mass see mass markets; open door market 121 see also free trade; organic food market 581; and politics 9, 680; research for the market see market research; for second-hand goods 71, 145, 375, 629, 632–3, 656–7, 658–9, 660; from second industrial revolutions 161; segmentation of 89, 317; suspension of market laws to suit imperialists 133; teenage/youth 312, 494–8

  Marks & Spencer 479, 618

  marriage 115, 369, 382, 496 see also weddings; arranged 369, 382; dowries 203, 382; economic theory extended to 427; intermarriage 146; remittances 592; swadeshi marriage songs 297