1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793633303321

Autore

Hulme Alison

Titolo

A brief history of thrift / Alison Hulme

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Baltimore, Maryland : , : Project Muse, , 2019

Baltimore, Md. : , : Project MUSE, , 2019

©2019

ISBN

1-5261-2885-3

1-5261-4672-X

1-5261-2884-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 140 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Manchester scholarship online

Disciplina

332.024

Soggetti

Social history

Consumption (Economics)

Thriftiness

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages [127]-137) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Towards a theory of thrift -- Religious thrift : Puritans, Quakers and Methodists -- Individualist thrift : Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Smiles and -- Victorian moralism -- Spiritual thrift : simplicity, sensuality and politics in -- Henry Thoreau -- Nationalist thrift : making do, rationing and nostalgic austerity -- Consumer thrift : Keynes, consumer rights and the new -- thrifty consumers -- Ecological thrift : frugality, de- growth and Voluntary Simplicity -- Conclusion : Thoreau in the city.

Sommario/riassunto

This book surveys 'thrift' through its moral, religious, ethical, political, spiritual and philosophical expressions, focussing in on key moments such as the early Puritans and Post-war rationing, and key characters such as Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Smiles and Henry Thoreau. The relationships between thrift and frugality, mindfulness, sustainability, and alternative consumption practices are explained, and connections made between myriad conceptions of thrift and contemporary concerns for how consumer cultures impact scarce resources, wealth distribution, and the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the book returns the reader to an understanding of thrift as it was originally used - to 'thrive' - and attempts to re-cast thrift in more collective, economically



egalitarian terms, reclaiming it as a genuinely resistant practice.