Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Toys, Consumption, and Middle-class Childhood in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918

Toys, Consumption, and Middle-class Childhood in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918

Ganaway, Bryan

Paperback

Series: German Life and Civilization, Book 48

AnthropologyGeneral EducationWomen's Studies

ISBN10: 3039115480
ISBN13: 9783039115488
Publisher: Peter Lang UK
Published: Apr 16 2009
Pages: 294
Weight: 0.91
Height: 0.64 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Drawing on a variety of techniques from history, anthropology and literary criticism the author argues toy consumption helped adults negotiate the transmission of middle-class values regarding modernity, technology, gender roles and nationalism to their children. Practices of consumption permitted self-fashioning from above and below; women used their control over childhood to insert themselves into political debates about the future shape of the nation at a time when they lacked the vote. Although the project to build a middle-class utopia via shopping never succeeded, millions of Germans happily bought toys at Christmas and birthdays showing their faith in the ability of modern society to make the world a better place. To understand why ordinary consumers made these choices, the book draws on a variety of sources including periodicals, trade journals, advertisements, pedagogical literature, memoirs, and toys.

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