Research Catalog

Title

The political economy of shopkeeping in Milan, 1886-1922 / Jonathan Morris.

Author

Morris, Jonathan, 1961-

Publication

Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 312 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm.

Summary

This is the first monograph dealing with any aspect of the experience of the Italian petite bourgeoisie. From the mid-1880s a shopkeeper movement developed in Milan, centred around a shopkeeper newspaper, a federation of shopkeeper trade associations and a shopkeeper bank. Initially the movement aligned itself with the Radicals in city politics, but in 1904 it was shopkeeper representatives who set in chain the sequence of events that led to the fall of the first Radical-Socialist administration within the city. The author explains these events with reference to the business of shopkeeping itself. He analyses the trades, techniques, tax structure and topography of the Milanese retail sector. The study traces the history of the contest between shops and cooperatives, and the changing nature of the shopkeeper's relationship with his employees, and with his clientele. Considerable emphasis is placed upon the politics of the shopkeeper movement. These are analysed in the context both of Italian history and of the debates over petit-bourgeois identity and autonomy which have become essential for our understanding of modern European history. In his final chapters the author confronts the crucial question of why it was the Milanese shopkeepers were to be found on the right in the years that led up to the Fascist takeover in Italy.

Series Statement

Past and present publications

Uniform Title

Past and present publications

Subject

• Retail trade > Government policy > History. > Italy > Milan
• Stores, Retail > Italy > Milan > History
• Merchants > Italy > Milan > History
• 15.70 history of Europe
• Commerce
• Commercial policy
• Merchants
• Retail trade > Government policy
• Stores, Retail
• Einzelhandel
• Winkeliers
• Detailhandel
• Vakverenigingen
• Economie
• Comerç al detall > Itàlia > Milà > Història
• Retail trade > Italy > Milan > History
• Commerce de détail > Italie > Milan (Italie) > Histoire
• Commerce > Italie > Milan > Histoire
• Commerçants > Italie > Milan > Histoire
• Petits commerces > Italie > Milan (Italie) > 1870-1914
• Commerçants > Italie > Milan (Italie) > Activité politique > 1870-1914
• Geschichte (1886-1922)
• Milan (Italy) > Commercial policy > History
• Milan (Italy) > Commerce > History
• Italy > Milan
• Mailand
• Milan (Italie) > Politique commerciale
• Milan (Italie) > Conditions sociales > 1870-1914

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-303) and index.

Contents

Introduction: shopkeeping as a historical problem -- 1. The business of shopkeeping in Milan, 1859-1915 -- 2. The context of shopkeeping: trades and techniques -- 3. The economic geography of shopkeeping: the role of the dazio consumo -- 4. The esercenti enter the political arena -- 5. Constructing the esercenti movement, 1886-1890 -- 6. The esercenti and the depression, 1890-1897 -- 7. Shopkeepers, cooperatives and the politics of privilege -- 8. Milan and the national small-business movement, 1886-1898 -- 9. The allargamento debate, 1895-1897 -- 10. The end-of-century crisis and the enlargement of the dazio belt -- 11. Shopkeeping in the new century -- 12. Labour relations and class politics -- 13. The esercenti and the centre-left administration, 1900-1905 -- 14. Shopkeepers and Socialists 1905-1922 -- Conclusion: identity and autonomy.

ISBN

• 0521391199
• 9780521391191

LCCN

92008745

OCLC

• ocm25508029
• 25508029
• SCSB-1983116

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library