Material Nation

A Consumer's History of Modern Italy
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-958957-9
Verlag: Oxford University Press, USA

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 703 g

In this fresh, unfamiliar, and sometimes surprising picture of modern Italy, history is refracted through the prism of the nation's consumer culture.

What were Italians eating and drinking over this period? Where did they live? What did they do in their leisure time? What did they choose to spend their spare money on? And how did this differ between different economic classes and over time? From the battle against poverty conducted by the first liberal governments of a united Italy, to fascist autarchy, up to the emergence of welfare policies and today's multifaceted society, Scarpellini looks at how the material culture associated with consumption has structured Italian life and defined the boundaries of class, gender, generations, and regional differences, inspiring government policies, and influencing the worlds of art and literature.

Keeping a constant eye on wider historical trends, both in Italy and internationally, the book looks at how the basic triad of consumer culture (food, housing, and clothing) slowly developed into a more complex pattern, incorporating transport, domestic appliances, and then electronics, communications, and fashion.

Combining economic and cultural history with a vivid narrative style, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of modern Italy and of consumption more generally in the last century and a half.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Scarpellini, Emanuela

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Sachkultur, Materielle Kultur
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Materielle Kultur, Wirtschaftsethnologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Preface

- Part I: Liberal Italy

- 1: Italian Society from Unification to the Belle Époque

- 2: The State and Public Consumption

- 3: The World of Production

- 4: Commercial Spaces

- Part II: Fascism

- 5: The Regime

- 6: Daily Life Under Fascism

- Part III: The Economic Miracle

- 7: Society During the Golden Age of Capitalism

- 8: Politics, Culture, and Welfare State

- 9: Advertising and Production

- 10: Large-scale Distribution and 'American' Supermarkets

- Part IV: The Affluent Society

- 11: Impact of the Consumer Society

- 12: Everyday Life Today

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Emanuela Scarpellini is Professor of Modern History at the University of Milan. She was a visiting scholar at Stanford University and Cambridge University, and has also been a Visiting Professor at both Stanford and Georgetown universities.