Co-operative culture and the politics of consumption in England, 1870-1930
By: Peter Gurney.
Publisher: Manchester University Press; Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press; Manchester Univ Pr
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Manchester; New York; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 350
Subjects: Consumer cooperatives -- Great Britain -- History.
Other titles: Cooperative culture and the politics of consumption in England, 1870-1930
Description: Consumers' co-operation was an integral part of working-class community life earlier this century. Millions knew their 'divi' number off by heart and the Co-op store was a familiar landmark in most neighbourhoods, particularly in the industrial North.

This innovative, research-based book presents a positive critique of the co-operative alternative to emerging capitalist forms of mass consumption in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This alternative was embedded in the culture of the movement and Peter Gurney provides a full analysis of that culture - its strategy and ambition, social and educational forms, internationalism and historical consciousness.

The author argues that the dominant 'mode of consumption' which eventually emerged was not inevitable but was the outcome of complex social and economic struggles which historians have only just begun to investigate.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [318]-342) and index.