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Consumer Citizenship and Cross‐Class Activism: The Case of the National Consumers' League, 1899–1918
Author(s) -
Haydu Jeffrey
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12107
Subject(s) - consumerism , citizenship , league , politics , sociology , capital (architecture) , class (philosophy) , political economy , cultural capital , gender studies , political science , social science , law , physics , archaeology , astronomy , artificial intelligence , computer science , history
Political consumerism is often criticized for its failure to cross class lines, a failure linked to the economic resources and cultural capital of affluent consumers. The early history of the National Consumers' League ( NCL ) illustrates how an alternative model of consumer citizenship can lead privileged shoppers to draw social boundaries in different ways. The NCL included lower‐class women and children as beneficiaries and occasional allies in consumer campaigns, but distanced itself from the organized labor movement. This alternative model of political consumerism is traced to the gender and class cultures of reformist women in the Progressive Era.