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SUMMARY:The sweatshops of the consumer revolution. Economic growth\, socia
 l inequality  and material culture in Flanders and Brabant (c.18)  - Bruno
  Blonde (Antwerp)
DTSTART:20231123T171500Z
DTEND:20231123T184500Z
UID:TALK207007@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:16750
DESCRIPTION:For decades historians have been occupied by the critical cons
 umer transitions that marked the late early modern period.  While initiall
 y coined as a “birth of a consumer society”\,  the newness\, depth and
  the impact of the consumer changes in the eighteenth century have been qu
 alified in decades of research.  Eventually\, the paradox of a “slow gro
 wth- and material culture-rich society” has been approached in the famou
 s “industrious revolution thesis”.   However\, even this effort at pea
 ceful reconciliation between moderate income growth and material wealth ha
 s been subjected to multiple criticisms. In this lecture\, the critical ap
 proach to the consumer revolution will be pushed further.  The much applau
 ded consumer changes in the late early modern Low Countries  account for a
 n increased proletarianization\, slow growth and accruing social inequalit
 y. On the basis of a comparative research into different urban trajectorie
 s across the Flemish and Brabantine urban network\, the claim is that the 
 consumer changes (the growing importance of affordable luxuries) were not 
 a solution for a problem (stagnating real incomes and (s)low economic grow
 th)\, but were a cause of them. In the absence of technological changes fo
 stering productivity changes\, the reorientation on “new luxuries” for
 cefully kept economic growth slow. On top of the global inequalities that 
 were fostered by consumer changes\, more attention needs to be paid to the
  local ramifications at the supply side of the consumer revolution. This w
 ill be illustrated by evidence for Brabant and Flanders\, two economic cor
 e regions of the Low Countries. 
LOCATION:Room 6\, Faculty of History
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