Consumerism in Twentieth-Century Britain : The Search for a Historical Movement Paperback / softback

This book is the first comprehensive history of consumerism as an organised social and political movement.

Matthew Hilton offers a groundbreaking account of consumer movements, ideologies and organisations in twentieth-century Britain.

He argues that in organisations such as the Co-operative movement and the Consumers' Association individual concern with what and how we spend our wages led to forms of political engagement too often overlooked in existing accounts of twentieth-century history.

He explores how the consumer and consumerism came to be regarded by many as a third force in society with the potential to free politics from the perceived stranglehold of the self-interested actions of employers and trade unions.

Finally he recovers the visions of countless consumer activists who saw in consumption a genuine force for liberation for women, the working class and new social movements as well as a set of ideas often deliberately excluded from more established political organisations.