Material Lives - Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century (Dyer Serena (De Montfort University UK))(Paperback / softback)

Conventional histories of the 18th century - and the industrial revolution and the birth of the consumer society - have distorted our understanding of the complex dynamics of material production and consumption and the ways in which these were experienced by both men and women. With its illuminating stories of women's experiences, and their material literacy and agency as producers, Material Lives offers a new way of looking at this period, challenging previously held views and assumptions. Using deep archival research to tell these stories, Material Lives shifts the conceptual framework by which women are perceived as passive consumers - those who bought things - to active producers - those who made things. Dyer focusses on genteel women, whose engagement with production has traditionally been characterised as decorative, trivial and superficial, and reveals the
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