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Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for
luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-century England.
McKendrick has explored the Wedgwood firm’s remarkable success in marketing
luxury pottery; Plumb has written about the proliferation of provincial theater,
musical festivals, and children’s toys and books. While the fact of this
consumer revolution is hardly in doubt, three key questions remain: Who were the
consumers? What were their motives? And what were the effects of the new demand
for luxuries?
An answer to the first of these has been difficult to obtain. Although it
has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what
manufacturers and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study
of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a
precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how large this
consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for
luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in
passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of
eighteenth-century English history, has probably exaggerated the opposition of
these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general; for example,
laboring people in eighteenth-century England readily shifted from home-brewed
beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban
breweries.
To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some
historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a
relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer.
Mckendrick favors a Veblem model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by
competition for status. The “middling sort” bought goods and services because
they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether
this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form of
self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of
new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy
for conspicuous competition.
Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries?
McKendrick claims that it goes a long way toward explaining the coming of the
Industrial Revolution. But does it? What, for example, does the production of
high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron
manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology
and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector.
That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary
should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies: the
insatiable demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful
goods and services foreshadows our own world.
1. In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most
probably in order to
[A] contrast their views on the subject of luxury consumerism in
eighteenth-century England.
[B] indicate the inadequacy of historiographical approaches to
eighteenth-century English history.
[C] give examples of historians who have helped to establish the fact of
growing consumerism in eighteenth-century England.
[D] support the contention that key questions about eighteenth-century
consumerism remain to be answered.
2. Which of the following items, if preserved from eighteenth-century
England, would provide an example of the kind of documents mentioned in lines
3-4, paragraph 2?
[A] A written agreement between a supplier of raw materials and a supplier
of luxury goods.
[B] A diary that mentions luxury goods and services purchased by its
author.
[C] A theater ticket stamped with the date and name of a particular
play.
[D] A payroll record from a company that produced luxury goods such as
pottery.
3. According to the text, Thompson attributes to laboring people in
eighteenth-century England which of the following attitudes toward capitalist
consumerism?
[A] Enthusiasm.
[B] Curiosity.
[C] Ambivalence.
[D] Hostility.
4. In the third paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
[A] contrasting two theses and offering a compromise.
[B] questioning two explanations and proposing a possible alternative to
them.
[C] paraphrasing the work of two historians and questioning their
assumptions.
[D] examining two theories and endorsing one over the other.
5. According to the text, eighteenth-century England and the contemporary
world of the text readers are
[A] dissimilar in the extent to which luxury consumerism could be said to
be widespread among the social classes.
[B] dissimilar in their definitions of luxury goods and services.
[C] dissimilar in the extent to which luxury goods could be said to be
stimulant of industrial development.
[D] similar in their strong demand for a variety of goods and services.
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发表于 2017-8-6 14:08:11