Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940
Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940
by Susan Benson
University of Illinois Press, 1986 Cloth: 978-0-252-01252-5 | Paper: 978-0-252-06013-7 Library of Congress Classification HF5465.U5B45 1986 Dewey Decimal Classification 381.10973
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The luxurious appearance and handsome profits of American department stores from 1890 to 1940 masked a three-way struggle among saleswomen, managers, and customers for control of the selling floor. Counter Cultures explores the complex nature and contradictions of the conflict in an arena where class, gender, and the emerging culture of consumption all came together. The result is a fascinating illumination of the emotional labor of the workplace and the work-culture of consumerism that still defines the workday for millions of Americans.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Susan Porter Benson (d. 2005) taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Connecticut, and Yale University. She is the author of Household Accounts: Working-class Family Economies in the Interwar United States.
REVIEWS
Winner of the Chicago Women in Publishing Award, "Relevance to Women's Issues," 1987.
— Winner of the Chicago Women in Publishing Award, "Relevance to Women's Issues," 1987.