Black, Lawrence Edward Ian orcid.org/0000-0001-9321-2667 (2019) The Market Imperfections of Business, Shoppers and Consumerism:Esther Peterson and the legacies of the National Consumers’ League. Historical Research. pp. 205-227. ISSN 0950-3471
Abstract
Esther Peterson’s long career in the consumer movement, White House and private sector, discloses much about organized consumerism, its politics and popular reception in the U.S.A. in the nineteen-sixties and -seventies. It also demonstrates the abiding influence of the National Consumers’ League (N.C.L.), founded in 1899, on her understanding of markets, business, shoppers and strategies for reform. This article traces the relationship between Peterson’s thought and practice and that of the N.C.L. The idea that markets could be made to work more fairly if consumers had the knowledge to balance commercial power and the will to act was widespread in the twentieth-century consumer movement. Shopper agency could then be about more than self-interest and could bring ethical reform to the wider society. The article also identifies consumer activist’s recurring unease about shoppers’ aptitude for this role - their limited receptiveness to consumer movement initiatives and how they as well as business frustrated fair markets - and argues that this exposes a contradiction in the consumer movement’s own market-based approach and model of reform.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Institute of Historical Research. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > History (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jan 2019 12:00 |
Last Modified: | 20 Mar 2025 00:08 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2281.12253 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/1468-2281.12253 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:141282 |
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Description: 2) Black - The Market Imperfections of Business, Shoppers and Consumerism Esther Peterson and the legacies of the National Consumers’ League