The Industrious Revolution
Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present

This book traces the evolution of an 'industrious revolution' that fundamentally altered the material cultures of Europe and North America.

Jan de Vries (Author)

9780521719254, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 May 2008

340 pages
22.6 x 15.4 x 2.1 cm, 0.46 kg

'This is an apposite book in these days of 'credit crunch' and has an important contemporary as well as historical significance.' The Historical Association

In the long eighteenth century, new consumer aspirations combined with a new industrious behavior to fundamentally alter the material cultures of northwest Europe and North America. This 'industrious revolution' is the context in which the economic acceleration associated with the Industrial Revolution took shape. This study explores the intellectual understanding of the new importance of consumer goods as well as the actual consumer behavior of households of all income levels. De Vries examines how the activation and evolution of consumer demand shaped the course of economic development, situating consumer behavior in the context of the household economy. He considers the changing consumption goals of households from the seventeenth century to the present and analyzes how household decisions have mediated between macro-level economic growth and actual human betterment. Ultimately, de Vries' research reveals the strengths and weaknesses of existing consumer theory, suggesting revisions that add historical realism to economic abstractions.

1. The transformation of consumer desire in the long eighteenth century
2. The origins of the Industrious Revolution
3. The Industrious Revolution: the supply of labor
4. The Industrious Revolution: consumer demand
5. The breadwinner-homemaker household
6. A second Industrious Revolution?
Appendix I.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH]