Consumerism is an organized movement of citizens and government agencies to improve the rights and powers of buyers in relation to sellers. Consumers not only have the right but also the responsibility to protect themselves instead of leaving this function to someone else.
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.
• The first comprehensive history of consumerism as an organised social and political movement • Examines the history of the Co-operative movement, the Consumers' Association, the National Consumer Council, the Office of Fair Trading as well as international consumer organisations • Contributes to an expanding inter-disciplinary discussion of the role of consumption in modern society