Front cover image for Material culture in Europe and China, 1400-1800 : the rise of consumerism

Material culture in Europe and China, 1400-1800 : the rise of consumerism

Consumerism is increasingly recognized as a key factor in the modern world. The global economy, it has been said, is driven as much by taste as technology. Yet consumerism has seldom been studied as a global overlay or incipient world institution. Often criticized as mere materialism or greed, its intellectual aspects in human rationality and choice have been generally neglected. This book seeks to remedy these oversights in a broad overview of food, dress, shelter, utilities, information and commodity symbolism in Europe and China between 1400 and 1800
Print Book, English, 1997
Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1997