Overview
- Reassesses the concept of consumer engineering in a comparative, transnational framework, moving beyond the familiar narrative of consumer manipulation
- Considers the history of consumer engineering in the context of mid-century developments such as social engineering, modernist planning and design, and the professionalization of various fields
- Appeals to scholars of marketing and business history, consumer culture, social engineering, social movements, transnational history, and the history of capitalism
Part of the book series: Worlds of Consumption (WC)
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About this book
In the middle of the twentieth century, a new class of marketing expert emerged beyond the familiar ad men of Madison Avenue. Working as commercial designers, consumer psychologists, sales managers, and market researchers, these professionals were self-defined “consumer engineers,” and their rise heralded a new era of marketing. To what extent did these efforts to engineer consumers shape consumption practices? And to what extent was the phenomenon itself a product of broader social and cultural forces? This collection considers consumer engineering in the context of the longer history of transatlantic marketing. Contributors offer case studies on the roles of individual consumer engineers on both sides of the Atlantic, the impact of such marketing practices on European economies during World War II and after, and the conflicted relationship between consumer activists and the ideas of consumer engineering. By connecting consumer engineering to a web of social processes in the twentiethcentury, this volume contributes to a reassessment of consumer history more broadly.
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Keywords
- Marketing management
- marketing practices
- history of consumer marketing
- marketing in the twentieth century
- history of capitalism
- transnational marketing history
- consumer engineering
- social engineering
- mass consumption
- U.S. business history
- history of design
- fast capitalism
- consumer goods
- Victor Gruen
- German business history
- Americanization
- consumer credit
- Walter Landor
- consumer research
- consumer activism
Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Twentieth Century Marketing—Aspirations and Limits, Costs and Benefits
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Front Matter
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Consumer Engineers and Transatlantic Exchanges at Mid-Century
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Front Matter
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Consumer Engineering Practices in Postwar Europe
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Front Matter
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Consumer Engineering and Consumer Movements
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Jan Logemann is Assistant Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Gary Cross is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Ingo Köhler is Assistant Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Gary Cross is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Ingo Köhler is Assistant Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Consumer Engineering, 1920s–1970s
Book Subtitle: Marketing between Expert Planning and Consumer Responsiveness
Editors: Jan Logemann, Gary Cross, Ingo Köhler
Series Title: Worlds of Consumption
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14564-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-14563-7Published: 14 June 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-14566-8Published: 14 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-14564-4Published: 29 May 2019
Series ISSN: 2945-6010
Series E-ISSN: 2945-6029
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 296
Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour
Topics: Modern History, US History, World History, Global and Transnational History, Social History, Consumer Behavior