The nineteenth-century child and consumer culture / / [edited by] Dennis Denisoff

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910154565303321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 2016
• ISBN: 1-351-88495-6; 1-138-27613-8; 1-315-23807-1
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (252 pages) : illustrations
• Collana: Ashgate studies in childhood, 1700 to the present
• Altri autori (Persone): DenisoffDennis <1961->
• Disciplina: 306.3094109034
• Soggetti: Consumption (Economics) - Social aspects - Great Britain; Consumer behavior - Great Britain - History - 19th century; Child consumers - Great Britain - History - 19th century; Child welfare - Great Britain - History - 19th century; Great Britain Social conditions 19th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "First published 2008 by Ashgate Publishing"--t.p. verso.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: pt. 1. Play things : toys and theater -- pt. 2. Consuming desires -- pt. 3. Adulthood and nationhood -- pt. 4. Children and the terrors of cultural consumption.
• Sommario/riassunto: During the rise of consumer culture in the nineteenth century, children and childhood were called on to fulfill a range of important roles. In addition to being consumers themselves, the young functioned as both 'goods' to be used and consumed by adults and as proof that middle-class materialist ventures were assisting in the formation of a more ethical society. Children also provided necessary labor and raw material for industry. This diverse collection addresses the roles assigned to children in the context of nineteenth-century consumer culture, at the same time that it remains steadfast in recognizing that the young did not simply exist within adult-articulated cultural contexts but were agents in their formation. Topics include toys and middle-class childhood; boyhood and toy theater; child performers on the Victorian stage; gender, sexuality and consumerism; imperialism in adventure fiction; the idealization of childhood as a form of adult entertainment ; and self-flattery; the commercialization of orphans; and the economics behind formulations of child poverty. Together, the essays demonstrate the rising investment both children and adults made in commodities as sources of identity and human worth.