Research Catalog

Imagining consumers : design and innovation from Wedgwood to Corning

Title
Imagining consumers : design and innovation from Wedgwood to Corning / Regina Lee Blaszczyk.
Author
Blaszczyk, Regina Lee.
Publication
Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

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Description
xiii, 380 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 25 cm.
Summary
  • "Imagining Consumers is the first book to tell the story of American consumer society from the perspective of mass-market manufacturers and retailers. It relates the trials and tribulations of china and glassware producers in their contest for the hearts of working- and middle-class women, who by the 1920s made up more than 80 percent of those buying mass-manufactured goods.
  • Following a model pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood during Great Britain's eighteenth-century industrial revolution, successful American manufacturers closely collaborated with retailers to sort out consumer priorities and tailored their products accordingly.
  • In contrast, companies that tried to stimulate desire, reshape taste, and encourage profligate spending by using the tools of persuasion - mass advertising, extravagant styling, and installment selling - found their efforts thwarted, for consumers refused to buy products that they did not really want."--BOOK JACKET.
Series Statement
Studies in industry and society
Uniform Title
Studies in industry and society.
Subject
  • Ceramic tableware industry > United States > History
  • Ceramic tableware industry > Great Britain > History
  • Glassware industry > United States > History
  • Glassware industry > Great Britain > History
  • Consumers' preferences > United States > History
  • Consumers' preferences > Great Britain > History
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-343) and index.
Contents
1. Cinderella Stories -- 2. China Mania -- 3. Beauty for a Dime -- 4. Fiesta! -- 5. Better Products for Better Homes -- 6. Pyrex Pioneers -- 7. Easier Living?
ISBN
0801861934 (alk. paper)
LCCN
99015428
OCLC
ocm41265954
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries