Storia economica (inglese)

The History of Consumption in the USA

T. H. Witkowski, "A history of consumption in the United States," in Jones B. and Tadajewski M. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Marketing History, New York, Routledge, 2016, pp. 41-59. Terrence Witkowski is a business professor at California University. In this lesson, we discuss the first part of the paper: From the colonial period to the Gilded Age (17th-19th c.). We are now going to discuss consumption. For example, it can be carried out outside the market because I can consume the food I hunt (fish), I can sell the products (vegetables) I need, or I can receive goods and services through public provisioning (furniture - approvvigionamento) like the state or municipality. In a market economy, consumption is carried out and concerned with retailing. Changes are better detectable if we combine dynamics internal to retail with endogenous/exogenous factors. And when we discuss theories about retail, demand emerges as one of the most relevant.exogenous factors of transformation. It's easier to detect changes if we focus on demand-led, for example in income. A key factor in Savy study about New England, remember, in the 17-18 century was localization of demand (where demand was coming from). Or an increase income level is crucial in shaping the model pointed out by Buckling, with reference to retailing transformation in the UK. So, the best simplification to understand how context influences over time and space retail institutions, is to address and discuss about CONSUMPTION. The best point of view is provided by SOCIETY (in the USA) in which consumption has evolved into a way of life (historians identify this as the term CONSUMERISM). The best example of consumerism is the society of USA, the birthplace. Looking at the context in which consumers consume is not as well developed as in the USA, allows us to better appreciate the impact of demand as a transformative factor of retail (he means in other countries).

Countries like Japan). Theories show how important it is to put retail institutions into context. While we can expect a process of modernization within the USA since the late 19th century (with the GILDEN ERA), consumption undergoes crucial changes. How is it possible to see modernization of retail in post-feudal Japan, when capitalism went along with extremely frugal consumption patterns? Or how is it possible to see modernization of retail in communist Russia where a system opposite to market economy was at work. Transformation is not only the result of exogenous forces (like demand), but are the outcome of complex interaction. ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THE ROLE OF FACTORS INTERNAL TO RETAIL. In the history of consumption in the USA it's not just a matter of consumption (external context). Because recurring patterns of change in very different contexts (post-feudal Japan, Communist Russia) reveal the interplay of exogenous and endogenous factors.

COLONIAL AND EARLY FEDERAL PERIOD

In the world

economy was based on large-scale plantation agriculture, particularly the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo. These cash crops were primarily grown for export to Europe, which created a strong dependence on imports for everyday goods and supplies. In terms of trade, the American colonies were part of a global network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia. This network was established through colonialism and the expansion of European trade routes. The British king, who controlled the American colonies, benefited greatly from this long-distance flow of merchandise, as imports were a significant source of revenue. The New England colonies, in particular, were more open to consumption and trade than other parts of North America. They had a greater reliance on imported goods, including textiles for clothing. While there was some limited self-sufficiency in cloth production, it was not enough to meet the demands of the growing population. On the other hand, the southern colonies had a different economic structure. They relied heavily on plantation agriculture and the labor of enslaved Africans. The production of cash crops like tobacco, rice, and indigo was the primary focus, with little emphasis on self-sufficiency. As a result, the southern colonies were even more dependent on imports for their everyday needs. Overall, the economy of the 17th century American colonies was characterized by a mix of self-sufficiency and dependence on imports. While some regions were more open to trade and consumption, others relied heavily on cash crop production and the global market.

Plantation economy tended to be more self-sufficient. Still, in the 17th-16th century, 1/3 of the imports in the colonies were from either British colonies or from England. For example, wine, rum, salt, tea, molasses, sugar, as well as linoleum and cotton type of clothes were among the most important imports of American colonies.

By the mid-18th century, specialized retailers operated, including peddlers, rural general shops, and city shops. So, by the mid-18th century, retail institutions gradually emerged. Around the 17th-16th century, retail formalities in the colonies were made up of itinerant retailers. Besides that, there were rural general stores, and in urban areas, more specialized city shops.

In developing cities, early forms of advertising were also seen, with merchants advertising in newspapers about the arrival of new shipments. They provided market information that allowed people to gather information about the market. Purchases were made on credit (credit account), with no cash payment. Each household usually had.

1. Credit accounts with shop keepers that were settled on a monthly basis and then they paid their debt to the shop keeper.
2. In the late 18th century, retail was carried out and controlled by husbands (males). Wife and daughters could only ask them to purchase something on their behalf but they couldn't go to buy at shops themselves.
3. GENDER DIVISION was extremely strong; AMERICAN PURCHASING AGENT WAS A MAN at this time.
4. Consumer studies reveal how relevant is CULTURE in shaping consumption choices; consumers attach symbolic and ritualistic significance to objects they possess and they can also project their identity and expectation on objects they buy and own.
5. By mid-18th century, in colonial America, meanings designed to possessions changed: before that time object ownership was limited because a typical middle-class family, in North America, had simple ceramic place, bed linen and table clock, towels, spoons, fork, knives, a bible.
6. A bible since a large majority of the first American

Settlers were of religious Protestant minorities were very devoted to the religion, the ability of reading the bible was very important among them. But later, possession ideals grow as soon as wealthy colonists begin to consume. Objects acquire meanings, showing taste and social standing of their owners. Products had to be now significant, the style of these goods was important; they had to symbolize good taste and be refined in fashion (following fashions coming from Europe). This started with the upper classes but a symbolic dimension was commonly also by early middle classes also; they needed to show off and display how refined you were through the commodities/goods that you owned. Critical views appear early. Puritans and Quakers condemned consuming more than necessity. Some colonies enacted sumptuary laws. However, USA consumers history undergoes critical views about excessive consumption. This will be a concentrate, making the USA a living battlefield between consumerism and anti-consumerism.

Part of the nation lays in the type of migration English king favoured: minorities of extremely radical religious groups (puritans, quakers, Christian's protesters and radicals) were sent to America to reduce the disturbing presence in England (they weren't very welcome by the British king because they created problems) so he sent them to north America. This radical religious groups didn't like the idea of consuming beyond what was necessary and tended to patronize to question everyone on the virtue of SOBER AND FRUGAL LIFE. Public authorities in colonies were sensitive about these issues and some colonists, such as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, even ruled sanctuary laws. These are NORMS, common also in Europe during the Middle Ages, against the displaying of luxury in public. So they set rules that they limited it. This trend was exploited for political use and these ideas were at the core of a political strategy carried out by Franklin and Adams: boycotting UK imported superfluities.They were leaders of the anti-British movement, identified superfluities with goods imported from England; they did this to support and boycott, undermine, British colonial rule. Graph: shows the quantitative effect of boycotts, following British taxation we see a clear drop on imports from Britain. When these taxations on colonies were removed, thanks to the effort of non importation movements, imports sore again. Since money coming from taxation on imports was used to pay the occupying British army, Americans weren't very fan of paying these taxes; products heavily taxed became the object of their political strategy = BOSTON TEA PARTY. When Boston colonies attacked in harbour (porto) ships, throwing off board all the tea they were transporting (because tea was among the most taxed commodities that Americans exported in Britain). The "nonimportation" movement against British taxation favoured domestic demand and, in turn, domestic manufacturing. So the non importation movement,

not only supports the growth of a local manufacturing production to match a growing demand for domestic goods that were seen as a political alternative to imported goods; but it also opened the way to AN INDEPENDENT AMERICAN WAY OF RETAILING. It’s important to understand the cultural impact that the anti-consumerist culture has on the history of consumption in the USA. In the end, boycotts were crucial to start and trigger the revolution. This created a stable bond between independence revolution and consumerism. ESTABLISHING THE FORMER IDEAL AS FOUNDATIONAL OF THE USA VALUES. The protagonists of the boycott, emerged in the REPUBLICAN MOTHER, because women were actively engaged in this protest (in the non-importation movement), ending up being iconically represented as the «republican-mother» It became associated with the idea of the possibility of having a balance and virtues consumption, it’s a vision of female consumers which didn’t replace more traditional views.

that only males should be at the centre of shopping.

CONSUMPTION PATTERNS IN THE 19TH CENTURY

That was the colonial period, but what about after the revolution and after the beginnings of the federal state. In the economic structure of the USA, the 19th century can be divided in two different stages:

1. The CIVIL WAR period started in 1861, so until 1861 what was the situation?
2. Second period begins after 1865.

In the first stage agriculture prevails over trade. Commodities move thanks to transport innovations (railroads, canals). Products were made and purchased locally, with limited settable opportunities concerning with reference to retailing for most people. However some commodities travelled longer distances, thanks to transport innovations and infrastructures (the building of bridges and the first railroads although the real boom will appear AFTER the Civil War). A special place: New York and the A.T. Stewart experiment. New York is the place where concentration/intensification of

income that is in specific locations, contributes to transformation and changes in distribution. The experiment carried by the Irish dude (Stewart) [he had built a large marble-fronted store with success] that opened the way to large scale retailing for