Research Proposal: The Rise of the Consumer Culture

For my final research paper I have decided on a topic that settles nicely into the category of economics and culture within the Atlantic World. Once the world became a little smaller with the discovery of the New World, societal norms began to change and the needs of the people were replaced with wants.  An economic model and its connected culture are not mutually exclusive, and thus I will examine, and show, how the economics of the Atlantic World planted the seeds for a global consumer culture. I will explore the nature of consumerism within the Atlantic World and the change that developed within European society because of it. By the end of my research paper, I plan to show that intercontinental trade created a consumer economy and to illustrate how society and trade in the Atlantic World were affected. I will also examine whether this effect was positive or negative for society as a whole.

In order to support my thesis concerning the upstart of the consumer culture, as well as its sustainability, I have located five primary sources written between 1751 to 1792. My first primary source is from 1751, A New Discourse of Trade…, written by Josiah Child[1] provides background on how the luxury items that were so sought after belittled the positive impact trade initially created concerning job creation. He writes that consumerism is “the mo[s]t[2] de[s]tructive con[s]umption that can happen to a nation”[3] and he calls out for a return to the old ways in which thriftiness was foremost. He also provides a list of twelve exclamations heard along the streets in England, number seven being “luxury and [s]ome exces[s] may be profitable”[4] which reveals the widespread nature of the consumer mentality. Although Child’s writing is not fully subjective, it does provide insight into the mentality of the time.

My second primary source is from 1783, A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies written by Guillaume Thomas F. Raynal[5]. Guillaume provides historiography insight as well as an opinion on the luxury and consumerism that was sweeping the continents. He states that “there have been few [s]taples upon the face of the globe, where the thir[s]t of wealth and plea[s]ure had united more opulence and more corruption”[6]. This view is similar to that of Child, but put towards a more global view than just England. Guillaume and Child view the growth in demand for luxury items as having a negative impact on the nation as well as the world, whether the common man thought as much or not.  

My third primary source is from 1792, An Apology for Slavery; Or, Six Cogent Arguments Against the Immediate Abolition of the Slave-Trade, written by Alexander Geddes[7]. This source is a very interesting one in which he writes during a period when the abolition of slavery was still a sensitive topic. However, for my investigation the issue of slavery is not the focus but the effect it had on the issue of luxury consumerism. He writes in favor of slavery because it upholds the essential “Laws of Luxury”[8] which have become accustomed to by the greater British nation. Geddes is in favor of the consumerist movement stating that “we cannot live without [s]ugar and rum: not to mention other commodities which we import from the We[s]t Indies”[9]. In essence he writes that due to dependence upon luxury items, such as sugar and rum, removing them from trade would be foolish. Geddes’s writing reveals that by the 1790’s luxury items had consumed the needs of the populations, permanently establishing the consumer culture mentality.   

My last two primary sources will be a combination of the 18^th century writer Adam Smith and his venerated An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations[10], known more commonly as The Wealth of Nations written 1776, and Thomas Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population[11], written in 1789. These two works illustrate the positive effects of the consumer culture in creating more sustainable conditions for the world’s growing population. Smith’s “invisible hand” concept helps to show how this new consumer culture helped to create an entirely new field of jobs based around luxury consumables, providing employment that would have not been available in an economy based solely on needs. Malthus comes into play by showing that without this new consumer culture to create jobs for the world’s geometric population growth, the potential for a Malthusian catastrophe would have been much higher.

These five primary sources fuel the debate on whether the move from basic “need” trade to the consumerist “want” trade created a positive or negative movement. To provide some background, as well as a broader view on how the consumerist culture began and its subsequent economic reaction, I will use three secondary sources. The first secondary source I will be referencing is Atlantic World Or Atlantic/World? written by Peter A. Coclanis[12]. This source provides information on the intricate and far reaching hands of Atlantic World trade.  Coclanis not only discusses trade within the Atlantic World, but also the outlying areas such as India and China; providing a broader view of how far the products moved that created the consumerist mentality.

The second primary source is America, the Atlantic, and Global Consumer Demand, 1500-1800, written by Carole Shammas[13]. This source provides insight into what luxuries were the most sought after, as well as how the demand was perceived both from the royal viewpoint as well as the masses. Shammas writes that with the great migration of people and the “Triangular Trade” within the Atlantic World, a global economy was created and thus “frivolous raw materials altered the dietary habits of the Atlantic community and ultimately the world”[14]. In essence, Shammas reveals an overview of the extent the Atlantic community changed and molded the world, creating something entirely connected and entirely new.

Lastly, my third secondary source is “Chapter 4: Exploiting American Resources” in Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain And Spain in America 1492-1830, written by John H. Elliott[15]. This secondary source is particularly important as it reveals how and why the want of luxury items became needs, planting the seeds that grew into the consumer culture. He uses the words “craved”, “coveted”, and “yearned” to describe the way the travelers to the New World wanted the comforts of home, particularly the Spaniards. Elliot writes that “the satisfaction of these wants would entail massive changes to the economics they had inherited”[16]. This view reveals that although the desired non-European goods would eventually be brought to the forefront, the want for Old World luxuries within the New World sparked the consumerist mentality that was just beneath the surface.

The age of the Atlantic World stands as one of the most crucial pivot points in world history. It was a period of time that saw the world expand geographically with new discoveries, as well as shrink through the establishment of trade routes, diplomatic ties, and the expansion of international commerce. These eight sources will help to identify the extent to which international commerce expanded, the impact it had on society, and how these changes helped to create the consumer culture we have today.

Bibliography

Primary:

    Child, J. A New Discourse of Trade... 1751. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

    Geddes, A. An Apology for Slavery; Or, Six Cogent Arguments Against the Immediate Abolition of the Slave-Trade printed for J. Johnson; and R. Faulder, 1792. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

    Malthus, T. R. An Essay on the Principle of Population: Or, A View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness. 1789.London, Reeves and Turner, 1888. Google Scholar (Accessed 7/3/2012).

    Raynal, G. T. F. A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies 1783. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

    Smith, A. "The Wealth of Nations." 1776. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1991). Google Scholar (Accessed 7/3/2012).

       Secondary:

    Coclanis, Peter A. "Atlantic World Or Atlantic/World?" The William and Mary Quarterly 63, no. 4 (Oct., 2006): pp. 725-742. JSTOR (Accessed 7/2/2012).

    Elliot, John H. "Chapter 4: Exploiting American Resources" Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain And Spain in America 1492-1830. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. 88-114. Print. Pg 103. Accessed from ASU.  HST 498 Summer 2012, Week 2.

    Shammas, Carole. "America, the Atlantic, and Global Consumer Demand, 1500-1800." OAH Magazine of History 19, no. 1, Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan., 2005): pp. 59-64. JSTOR (Accessed 7/2/2012).

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[1] Child, J. A New Discourse of Trade... 1751. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

[2] Brackets have been inserted so as to make the reading and understanding of quotations easier to understand, due to them originally being in an older form of English.

[3] Child, 42.

[4] Ibid, xxvii.

[5] Raynal, G. T. F. A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies 1783. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

[6] Ibid, 340.

[7] Geddes, A. An Apology for Slavery; Or, Six Cogent Arguments Against the Immediate Abolition of the Slave-Trade printed for J. Johnson; and R. Faulder, 1792. Google Scholar. (Accessed 6/28/2012).

[8]Ibid 30.

[9]Ibid, 30.

[10] Smith, A. "The Wealth of Nations." 1776. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1991). Google Scholar (Accessed 7/3/2012)

[11] Malthus, T. R. An Essay on the Principle of Population: Or, A View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness. 1789.  London, Reeves and Turner, 1888. Google Scholar (Accessed 7/3/2012)

[12] Coclanis, Peter A. "Atlantic World Or Atlantic/World?" The William and Mary Quarterly 63, no. 4 (Oct., 2006): pp. 725-742. JSTOR (Accessed 7/2/2012).

[13] Shammas, Carole. "America, the Atlantic, and Global Consumer Demand, 1500-1800." OAH Magazine of History 19, no. 1, Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan., 2005): pp. 59-64. JSTOR (Accessed 7/2/2012).

[14] Ibid, 60.

[15] Elliot, John H. "Chapter 4: Exploiting American Resources" Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain And Spain in America 1492-1830. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. 88-114. Print. Pg 103. Accessed from ASU.  HST 498 Summer 2012, Week 2.

[16] Ibid, 89.