Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in Britain, 1660-1760

Notes:

First published 1988. Pioneering scholarly study, based on extensively funded ESRC research, on consumption and the consumer - who consumed what, where did they do it, and why? 'So the purpose of this book is to present new evidence about consumers in the early modern period and to look at this evidence in new ways. The main question underlying the whole of it is whether people's material lives reflected their social position. To discuss this, and to present different viewpoints on the processes involved, the argument is divided into two main sections. Part 1 deals with consumption at national, regional and local levels. Part 2 looks more closely at household expenditure and behaviour before discussing the role of social position directly'. The two parts are structured: 1] 'The Nation' - 'growth'; 'contrasting localities'; 'influence of towns'; 2] 'Household' - 'financing the household - income, wealth and prices'; 'financing the household - expenditure and priorities'; 'the domestic environment'; 'ownership of goods, social status and occupation'. A major source for the enquiry is probate inventories and the volume includes a section 'Ways of using inventories' [pp201-7]