The Consumer Revolution, 1650–1800

The production, acquisition, and use of consumer goods defines our daily lives, and yet consumerism is seen as increasingly controversial. Movements for sustainable and ethical consumerism are gaining momentum alongside an awareness of how our choices in the marketplace can affect public issues. How did we get here? This volume advances a bold new interpretation of the 'consumer revolution' of the eighteenth century, when European elites, middling classes, and even certain labourers purchased unprecedented quantities of clothing, household goods, and colonial products. Michael Kwass adopts a global perspective that incorporates the expansion of European empires, the development of world trade, and the rise of plantation slavery in the Americas. Kwass analyses the emergence of Enlightenment material cultures, contentious philosophical debates on the morality of consumption, and new forms of consumer activism to offer a fresh interpretation of the politics of consumption in the age of abolitionism and the Atlantic Revolutions.

Between Two “Consumer Revolutions”: Groceries and Other Foodstuff Purchases at Lower Canadian Country Stores, 1809–67

An analysis of the account books of five different Lower Canadian country general stores between 1809 and 1867 shows that ordinary households had access, and purchased, an increasingly wide range of groceries and other foodstuffs over the period. As in Upper Canada, grocery purchases were “routine – part of many families’ culture,” and some commodities may even have been mass consumed. Foodstuffs supplied by global trade networks coexisted with products of domestic manufactures. Foodstuff consumption also displayed characteristics associated with the “consumer revolution” of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as well as others usually deemed to have been part of the “mass consumption societies” of the twentieth century.

Defining empathy: Interconnected discourses of virtual reality’s prosocial impact

While a consumer revolution in virtual reality (VR) has piqued the interest of many fields, industries, and professions, it is unclear when, how, and to what degree the technology can elicit empathy. To better understand how the relationship between VR and empathy is communicated and defined, we performed qualitative and quantitative thematic analyses on popular ( N = 640) and academic articles ( N = 53) that included both terms. Findings revealed empathy is an aspirational term for journalists and researchers to showcase the potential of immersive media for prosocial change. Writers in both corpora suggested that empathetic experiences could lead to prosocial action through VR, but do not consistently define or measure empathy, given the inherent complexities surrounding the term. Drawing on seminal research in the field, we conclude with a definition of empathy related to immersive media.

The Effect of XR in Audio Visual Medium: Consumer Revolution of Virtual Platforms

This paper Investigates usage cases and consumer studies of AR/VR technologies that corroborate the positive impacts of Virtual applications in learning. Taking a look at the history of audiovisual media and the impact of screen technology in modern life, helped justify the creation of the DirectAR app which enables young Cinematography enthusiasts to learn basic concepts used in video creation.

The Effect of XR in Audio Visual Medium: Consumer Revolution of Virtual Platforms

This paper Investigates usage cases and consumer studies of AR/VR technologies that corroborate the positive impacts of Virtual applications in learning. Taking a look at the history of audiovisual media and the impact of screen technology in modern life, helped justify the creation of the DirectAR app which enables young Cinematography enthusiasts to learn basic concepts used in video creation.

Urbs in rure: race-grounds, grandstands and the commercialized consumption of urban leisure, 1750–1805

This article brings together three aspects of early modern urban life: the later stages of the urban renaissance, the consumer revolution and horse racing. Those towns identified as having an effectively commercialized ‘race week’ between 1750 and 1805 challenge notions of any trickle-down effect from London. Successful organization and funding came largely from co-operation rather than division between the county aristocracy and gentry and the urban middling sort. Both groups attended, while race weeks were sufficiently popular for many rural and urban workers to sacrifice production time for the allure of their leisure experiences. Racecourse consumer space, with its booths, tents and stands, allowed spectators to enjoy either cross-class mixing or increased social differentiation, the latter most especially on the permanent stone grandstands, an innovation of the period.

Przemiany emocjonalności w procesie rewolucji konsumpcyjnej

Changes in Emotionality Throughout Consumer Revolution This article discusses changes in emotionality throughout the consumer revolution in urban contexts in Poland. There are two types of emotionality: emotionality imbedded in discourse of progress; and modern hedonism. Drawing upon ethnographic data, emotions towards domesticated technologies were analyzed. Discourse of progress dominates among informants from older historical generations, modern hedonism dominates among the generation of transformation. The changes in emotionality: increase in emotionality, which means more often expression of emotions and larger number and diversity in expressed emotions; expressing the emotion of desire; engaging in practices with the goal of raising emotions through these practices.