The Politics of Consumption in the Modern Age: Discourse, Regulation and Material Practices

This volume explores the intersection of political history and consumption history by conceptualizing the "politics of consumption" as a discursive process in which consumers and acts of consumption are framed and politicized by state- and market-driven actors for broader societal objectives. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies from the North Atlantic world between the early nineteenth century and the 1980s, the authors examine how power dynamics shape consumption practices, regulation, and discourse. The contributions in this study address key themes such as municipal governance of food markets, consumer citizenship in political debates, the nationalist framing of commodities, anti-imperial sartorial practices, and the rhetoric of consumer austerity during economic crises. By situating consumption within the communicative space of political ideologies, the volume highlights how discourses around consumption not only reflect but also actively construct social hierarchies, national identities, and economic policies. Ultimately, the study underscores the necessity of integrating discursive approaches with material analyses to deepen our historical understanding of the politicization of consumption.

This book will appeal to students, researchers and scholars of political history, consumption studies, and cultural history.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of History of Retailing and Consumption.

Charris De Smet is a Historian and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Antwerp. As a member of Power in History – Center for Political History, she specializes in the study of parliamentary culture, the politics of consumption and women’s political writing in nineteenth-century Western Europe.

Ilja Van Damme is Full Professor in Urban History at the University of Antwerp, where he is a board member of the Centre for Urban History (CSG) and the Urban Studies Institute (USI). He specializes in the analysis of Belgian urban life and culture in the modern period (18th-20th centuries).

Marnix Beyen is Full Professor in Modern and Contemporary Political History at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, where he is a member of Power in History – Center for Political History. His research fields include the history of parliamentary culture and of nationalism in Western Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.