A Socioeconomic History of the American Consumer

This work, whose target audience includes both historians and practitioners, is a socioeconomic history of American consumers. The author shows how over the past century Americans’ personal and national identities became heavily defined by how they spent money in the marketplace. The American consumer is presented as a character on the national stage whose role changed significantly over time based on varying social, economic, and political conditions. What did not change over the course of five different eras, however, was a continual transformation of Americans from citizens to consumers as the private sphere steadily eclipsed the public or civic arena. The principal argument of the work is that alongside critics’ justifiable claims that American-style consumption is ultimately unsustainable, consumer culture has consistently served as a principal source of meaning and purpose in people’s lives. Key insights into the American idea and experience are revealed by charting the trajectory of consumers.