Description
Book SynopsisThrough a study of industry publications over much of the century, shows how the U.S. children's clothing industry produced increasingly refined categories of childhood
Trade Review“Blending the sociologist’s theoretical rigor with the historian’s attention to detail and change, Daniel Thomas Cook offers us a striking and original explanation of how twentieth-century notions of childhood together with new marketing practices led to the modern autonomous child.”—Gary Cross, author of
The Cute and the Cool: Wondrous Innocence and Modern American Children’s Culture“Daniel Thomas Cook’s
The Commodification of Childhood is a pioneering and major contribution to our understanding of consumer culture. On the basis of his detailed and fascinating examination of children’s clothing marketing through the twentieth century, Cook constructs a larger template for understanding the complex and evolving relations between consumers and marketers. The theoretical discussions are a tour de force. A must-read for all scholars of consumer society.”—Juliet B. Schor, author of
The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t NeedTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
1
Introduction
1
2 A Brief History of Childhood and Motherhood into the Twentieth Century
22
3 Merchandising, Motherhood, and Morality: Industry Origins and Child Welfare, 1917-1929 41
4 Pediocularity: From the Child’s Point of View 66
5 Reconfiguring Girlhood: Age Grading, Size Ranges, and Aspirational Merchandising in the 1930s
96
6 Baby Booms and Market Booms: Teen and Subteen Girls in the Postwar Marketplace 122
7 Concluding Remarks 144
Appendix: Figures and Tables 153
Notes 157
Bibliography 181
Index 201
