Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the recurrent relationship between different consumption movements in modernity, the forming of “middle classes” and the construction of the “modern woman” ideal. The work analyzes how a specific business model, which was inaugurated by grand magazines in the mid-nineteenth century, structures a system for selling goods and services that contributes to include masses of middle class urban populations in the universe of consumption, particularly by associating women to shopping activities. This study will focus on three contexts of expanding consumption where the complex relationship between economy and culture becomes evident: the emergence of grand magazines in European cities during the mid-nineteenth century; the development of shopping malls in the United States after the Second World War; and the arrival of international brands in Brazil from early 2000s, especially the case of the retail chain Forever 21.
Keywords
cultural history of consumption; culture and economy; middle classes; representations of women