Trust and Power
Consumers, the Modern Corporation, and the Making of the United States Automobile Market

Trust and Power argues that automobile corporations have historically faced conflicts with the very customers whose loyalty they sought.

Sally H. Clarke (Author)

9780521868785, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 May 2007

316 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.56 kg

"...a fresh, multidisciplinary assessment of the rise of the American automobile industry." -Karen Linkletter, Michigan Historical Review

Trust and Power argues that corporations have faced conflicts with the very consumers whose loyalty they sought. The book provides novel insights into the dialogue between corporations and consumers by examining the car industry during the twentieth century. In the new market at the turn of the century, car manufacturers produced defective cars, and consumers faced risks of physical injuries as well as financial losses. By the 1920s, cars were sold in a mass market where state agencies intervened to monitor, however imperfectly, product quality and fair pricing mechanisms. After 1945, the market matured as most US families came to rely on car transport. Again, the state intervened to regulate relations between buyers and sellers in terms of who had access to credit, and thus the ability to purchase expensive durables like cars.

Introduction
Part I. A New Market, 1896–1916: 1. Risks of innovation, risks of injury
2. New firms and the problem of social costs
Part II. A Mass Market, 1916–41: 3. Corporate strategies and consumers' loyalty
4. Engineering a mass product
5. A machine age aesthetic
6. The franchised car dealer and consumers' marketing dilemma
Part III. A Mature Market, 1945–65: 7. Automobiles and institutional change
Conclusion
Appendix: Automobile dealer agreements and sales manager contracts, 1900–14
Index.

Subject Areas: Industrialisation & industrial history [HBTK], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]