The Structures of Toy Consumption: Bourgeois Domesticity and Demand for Toys in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Consumption emerges as an extremely complex topic when gift-giving is introduced into analysis. Consumer goods both reflect and construct the complex social relations that give rise to gift-giving. Toys emerged as mass consumer items in the nineteenth century because the responded to the internal an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social history 2003-06, Vol.36 (4), p.857-869
Main Author: Hamlin, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
19th century AD
Attention
Baudrillard, Jean
Bourgeois
Bourgeois Ideologies
Bourgeoisie
Child discipline
Childhood
Children
Christmas
Citizens
Consumerism
Consumption
Consumption (Economics)
Desire
Educational activities
Families
Family
Family Life
Family Relations
German history
Germany
Gift
Gift Giving
Gifts
Happiness
History
Ideology
Interpersonal relationships
Middle class
Nineteenth Century
Parents
Social aspects
Social history
Social relations
Society
Sombart, Werner
Toys
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Summary:Consumption emerges as an extremely complex topic when gift-giving is introduced into analysis. Consumer goods both reflect and construct the complex social relations that give rise to gift-giving. Toys emerged as mass consumer items in the nineteenth century because the responded to the internal antinomies within the ideology of bourgeois domesticity. The family as a privileged site of affection underwriting a healthy individuality often worked at cross-purposes to the family as the site of construction of culturally middle-class citizens. The inevitable tensions between these competing ideals and tasks were resolved through family festivals, especially Christmas. Christmas emphasized the mutual affection of the family members through attention to the immediate desires of other family members. This attention to the desires of children tended to encourage toys as a gift since more than any other gift, particularly books, they were capable of generating immediate excitement and happiness.
ISSN:0022-4529
1527-1897
DOI:10.1353/jsh.2003.0097