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Fabricating the Market: The Promotion of Life Assurance in the Long Nineteenth‐Century
Author(s) -
MCFALL LIZ,
DODSWORTH FRANCIS
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6443.2009.01341.x
Subject(s) - promotion (chess) , circulation (fluid dynamics) , life insurance , business , variety (cybernetics) , process (computing) , marketing , finance , engineering , political science , computer science , actuarial science , law , aerospace engineering , artificial intelligence , politics , operating system
Abstract The market for life assurance did not emerge “naturally” from a particular problem of the allocation of resources, it had to be made. Life insurance had to appear desirable and reliable. This involved the circulation of a variety of advertising media, one aspect of which was the fabrication of grand offices as headquarters for life assurance companies. These buildings and their widely‐circulated images were part of a process of making life assurance appear prudent and proper, but more importantly secure. Through this fabrication of the liberal market, the City of London was transformed into a centre of commerce and finance.