| Domestic Goods Contributor(s): Parr, Joy (Author) |
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ISBN: 0802079474 ISBN-13: 9780802079473 Publisher: University of Toronto Press OUR PRICE: $49.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 1999 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Canada - General - Social Science | Women's Studies - Business & Economics | Consumer Behavior - General |
| Dewey: 683.809 |
| LCCN: 00551871 |
| Series: Hsbc Bank Canada Papers on Asia |
| Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6.06" W x 8.92" (1.34 lbs) 378 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1950's - Cultural Region - Canadian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Visions of life in the 1950s often spring from the United States: supermarkets, freeways, huge gleaming cars, bright new appliances, automated households. Historian Joy Parr looks beyond the generalizations about the indulgence of this era to find a specifically Canadian consumer culture. Focusing on the records left by consumer groups and manufacturers, and relying on interviews and letters from many Canadian women who had set up household in the decade after the war, she reveals exactly how and why Canadian homemakers distinguished themselves from the consumer frenzy of their southern neighbours. Domestic Goods focuses primarily on the design, production, promotion, and consumption of furniture and appliances. For Parr, such a focus demands an analysis of the intertwining of the political, economic, and aesthetic. Parr examines how the shortage of appliances in the early postwar years was a direct result of government reconstruction policy, and how the international style of 'high modernism' reflected the postwar dream of free trade. But while manufacturers devised new plans for the consumer, depression-era frugality and a conscious setting of priorities within the family led potential customers to evade and rework what was offered them, eventually influencing the kinds of goods created. This book addresses questions such as, who designed furniture and appliances, and how were these designs arrived at? What was the role of consumer groups in influencing manufacturers and government policy? Why did women prefer their old wringer washers for over a decade after the automatic washer was brought in? In finding the answers the author celebrates and ultimately suggests reclaiming a particularly Canadian way of consuming. |
Contributor Bio(s): Parr, Joy: - Joy Parr is Canada Research Chair in Technology, Environment and the Everyday, in the department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario.. |