In the long eighteenth century, new consumer aspirations combined with a new industrious behavior to fundamentally alter the material cultures of northwest Europe and North America. This "industrious revolution" is the context in which the economic acceleration associated with the Industrial Revolution took shape. This study explores the intellectual understanding of the new importance of consumer goods as well as the actual consumer behavior of households of all income levels. De Vries examines how the activation and evolution of consumer demand shaped the course of economic development, situating consumer behavior in the context of the household economy. He considers the changing consumption goals of households from the seventeenth century to the present and analyzes how household decisions have mediated between macro-level economic growth and actual human betterment. Ultimately, de Vries' research reveals key strengths and weaknesses of existing consumer theory, suggesting revisions that add historical realism to economic abstractions.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Combining an encylcopaedic knowledge of the history of consumption of early-modern north-western Europe with a vigorous determination to use recent economic theory to unlock its meaning, Jan de Vries' The Industrious Revolution is by turns fascinating, provocative and illuminating. No student of consumption, whether historian or economist, can afford to ignore it." -John Brewer, California Institute of Technology
"This is an important book. The appearance of 'new goods' in the eighteenth century elicited a growing work effort and provided a spur to economic growth even more important than the industrial revolution itself. A similar profusion in the last few decades (and the rise of education) has driven women out of the home again and back into work. De Vries is a masterly and imaginative historian, who demonstrates enduring regularities behind the craving for goods over the last three centuries." -Avner Offer, All Souls College, University of Oxford
"One of the most accomplished and influential economic historians of our age has produced a magisterial work that will force the entire profession to rethink the history of the household, work, leisure, and consumption in Europe over three centuries. Based on a wide and deep knowledge of his subject, De Vries has taken a novel and original approach to the joint determination of income and consumption by households. The "Industrious Revolution" will be discussed and taught for many years." -Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
"... this book will interest all concerned with human behaviour in its many forms ... it contains interesting insights into the ways behaviour has changed over the past couple of centuries ..." The Financial Times
"Buy, buy buy." -Times Literary Supplement
"A remarkable achievement, this seminal study will stimulate debate and research for years. Indispensable for academics and advanced undergraduates, it will intrigue some general readers. Essential" -Choice
"...it is staggerinly erudite, insightful, stimulating, and on all the main points, convincing." -Hans-Joachim Voth, EH.NET
"...breathtakingly erudite, accessibly written, and admirably concise." -John Styles, Journal of Economic History
"I would urge those who instinctively shy from books that trade in such terms as 'backward bending supply curves' to pick up this volume. If you read only one work of economic history this year, let this be it." -Michael Kwass, American Historical Review
"De Vries's work is a masterful synthesis that defies summary in a short review. He systematically summarizes, challenges, dissects, and reconstitutes countless interpretations that have formed the basis of the early modern economic historiography. For that reason alone, this book should be read by undergraduates and graduate students alike."
Canadian Journal of History, Stephen Moore
"This is an important book. The appearance of 'new goods' in the eighteenth century elicited a growing work effort and provided a spur to economic growth even more important than the industrial revolution itself. A similar profusion in the last few decades (and the rise of education) has driven women out of the home again and back into work. De Vries is a masterly and imaginative historian, who demonstrates enduring regularities behind the craving for goods over the last three centuries." -Avner Offer, All Souls College, University of Oxford
"One of the most accomplished and influential economic historians of our age has produced a magisterial work that will force the entire profession to rethink the history of the household, work, leisure, and consumption in Europe over three centuries. Based on a wide and deep knowledge of his subject, De Vries has taken a novel and original approach to the joint determination of income and consumption by households. The "Industrious Revolution" will be discussed and taught for many years." -Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
"... this book will interest all concerned with human behaviour in its many forms ... it contains interesting insights into the ways behaviour has changed over the past couple of centuries ..." The Financial Times
"Buy, buy buy." -Times Literary Supplement
"A remarkable achievement, this seminal study will stimulate debate and research for years. Indispensable for academics and advanced undergraduates, it will intrigue some general readers. Essential" -Choice
"...it is staggerinly erudite, insightful, stimulating, and on all the main points, convincing." -Hans-Joachim Voth, EH.NET
"...breathtakingly erudite, accessibly written, and admirably concise." -John Styles, Journal of Economic History
"I would urge those who instinctively shy from books that trade in such terms as 'backward bending supply curves' to pick up this volume. If you read only one work of economic history this year, let this be it." -Michael Kwass, American Historical Review
"De Vries's work is a masterful synthesis that defies summary in a short review. He systematically summarizes, challenges, dissects, and reconstitutes countless interpretations that have formed the basis of the early modern economic historiography. For that reason alone, this book should be read by undergraduates and graduate students alike."
Canadian Journal of History, Stephen Moore
Book Description
De Vries examines how the activation and evolution of consumer demand shaped the course of economic development, focusing specifically on the household economy. His research traces how this "industrious revolution" fundamentally altered the material cultures of Europe and North America and suggests important revisions to existing consumer theory.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Important Book,
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This review is from: The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present (Hardcover)
This important book is an interesting combination of economic and social history. An examination of family structure in an economic context, De Vries describes 3 substantial changes in family-household economic behavior since the mid-17th century. His focus on regions that were the leading edges of European economic development, northwestern Europe and America, with some expansion in the latter parts of the book. De Vries opens by documenting the basic phenomenon across the "long 18th century," the period from mid-17th century to about 1830 in which many households began to consume a wider variety and amount of consumer goods, accompanied by an intensification of household labor and engagement with different aspects of the market. Accompanying the basic description is a theoretical discussion of the nature of consumption stressing the family/household as the unit of consumption and the crucial ultimate assessment of utilities occurring within families, not in the marketplace per se. A recurrent theme throughout the book is De Vries emphasis on family/household decisions as an autonomous force, rather than a passive reactor to market forces. De Vries also connects this European historical phenomenon with more recent discussions of economic development in Asia, making European economic development less of an outlier. As he is quick to point out, the term Industrious Revolution was coined by a Japanese scholar studying Japanese and Chinese economic development. De Vries discusses also the intellectual reaction to changing consumer patterns, stressing the Enlightenment emphasis on commerce and social interactions as a civilizing force. This followed by a detailed description of the Industrious Revolution itself, showing the diverse ways in which families/households expanded work commitments of all family members and acquired an increasing range and quality of goods. This phenomenon was clearly accompanied by a wide expansion of markets and retail throughout Europe. This description is set against a very interesting analysis, partly historiograhic, of the role of consumption in general European economic history and the Industrial Revolution. One of De Vries' key points is that the Industrious Revolution was an independent precursor of industrialization and may have set the stage for industrial development. Another interesting implication is that despite stagnation of wages across this period, the increasing availability, variety, affordability, and quality of consumer goods, implies rising standards of living.
De Vries follows the very interesting analysis of the Industrious Revolution with descriptions of 2 subsequent major changes in family/household economic behavior; the emergence in the second half of the 19th of the Breadwinner-Homemaker family and the more recent re-emergence of a form of the Industrious family. In both cases, De Vries has nice discussions of the phenomena themselves and some interesting analysis of the prior literature, of which he is often critical for neglecting the importance of decisions within families and the relative autonomy of family/household decisions. All discussions are written clearly and based on careful analysis of the prior literature. Indeed, De Vries critical examination of much prior work is one of the best aspects of this book. The bibliography and documentation are excellent and the publisher deserves credit for providing footnotes on the text page. One probably unavoidable drawback of this analysis is that we don't get a good idea of the causes of these changes. De Vries emphasis on family/household autonomy is well taken but family/household, due to evidentiary limitations, is something of a black box. In addition, this is likely to be one of those complex, multi-factorial phenomena where small initial effects and positive feedbacks drive change.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important Book, Some Weaknesses,
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This review is from: The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present (Paperback)
De Vries is an outstanding economic historian, and his many insights in the field are shown to advantage in The Industrious Revolution. However, the book is not as well written as other books by De Vries that I have enjoyed, for example The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, which addresses similar themes. The Industrious Revolution suffers from the involuted, cutesy writing that has become popular among academic historians, as they borrowed the prose style and self-referential concerns of cultural criticism. This is a shame, since De Vries' strongest books are luminous in their clarity.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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old luxury, new luxury, first modern economy, industrialization before industrialization, new consumer aspirations, industrious revolution, pauper inventories, industrious household, new household economy, emulative behavior, consumption clusters, industrious behavior, consumer clusters, pocket globe, escape from hunger, female wardrobes, consumption objectives, breadwinner household, long eighteenth century, consumption technologies, elite observers, probate inventories, income pooling, consumed commodities Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Industrious Revolution, New York, Cambridge University Press, United States, Industrial Revolution, Oxford University Press, The Supply of Labor, Economic History Review, Second Industrious Revolution, The Transformation of Consumer Desire, Journal of Economic History, Jan de Vries, Adam Smith, University of Chicago Press, John Styles, University of California Press, Gregory Clark, Daniel Roche, Joel Mokyr, Martin's Press, Carole Shammas, Gary Becker, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Harvard University Press, Princeton University Press Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
old luxury, new luxury, first modern economy, industrialization before industrialization, new consumer aspirations, industrious revolution, pauper inventories, industrious household, new household economy, emulative behavior, consumption clusters, industrious behavior, consumer clusters, pocket globe, escape from hunger, female wardrobes, consumption objectives, breadwinner household, long eighteenth century, consumption technologies, elite observers, probate inventories, income pooling, consumed commodities Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Industrious Revolution, New York, Cambridge University Press, United States, Industrial Revolution, Oxford University Press, The Supply of Labor, Economic History Review, Second Industrious Revolution, The Transformation of Consumer Desire, Journal of Economic History, Jan de Vries, Adam Smith, University of Chicago Press, John Styles, University of California Press, Gregory Clark, Daniel Roche, Joel Mokyr, Martin's Press, Carole Shammas, Gary Becker, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Harvard University Press, Princeton University Press Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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