首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-c
Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-c
admin
2014-04-28
60
问题
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 theaters, 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 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. McKendriek favors a Velen 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.
The future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary. It 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.
Concerning the answer to who the consumers were, the writer of the passage seems to______.
选项
A、doubt that laboring people were also involved in the consumer revolution
B、exaggerate the extent of the demand for luxury goods
C、agree with Thompson on the scale of the market
D、prefer home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by urban breweries
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/4B0YFFFM
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
America’smostrelentlessexaminer,theEducationalTestingService,hasdevelopedcomputersoftware,knownasE-rater,toeval
Signlanguage,hip-hopandMaoriarejustsomeofthediversewaysinwhichallofShakespeare’splayswillbeperformedatLond
WhichofthefollowinginformationaboutWarrenBuffettiscorrect?
A、Parentsarenotasgoodastheyusedtobe.B、Morepeoplearegettingremarriedafterdivorce.C、Therearemoreoneparentor
TheHistoryofAmericanIndiansWhenEuropeansdiscoveredtheWesternhemisphere,theydiscoveredaraceofpeople.【1】____call
BeforeKeynes,economistsweregloomynaysayers."Nothingcanbedone","Don’tinterfere,""Itwillneverwork,"theyintonedw
Thefourmajormodesofsemanticchangeare______.
Disneyland’sHistoryWaltDisneyhadavisionofaplace,amagicparkwherechildrenandparentscouldhavefuntogether.T
WinstonChurchillChurchillcamefromamilitaryfamilyandenteredthearmyasacavalryofficer.Between1895and1898he
Translatingisacomplexandfascinatingtask.Infact,A.Richardshasclaimedthatitisprobablythemostcomplextypeofeve
随机试题
下列作品中,用“以小见大”的手法反映社会现实的是()
血吸虫病黄淮地区流行的疟疾
肝经郁火所致妇科病不常见于
个人教育贷款的还款来源主要是()。
风险调整中,通过()来不断完善整个风险管理系统,以获得最佳成本效益。
第七次咨询:心理咨询师:经过前几次的咨询,我们基本达到了预定的咨询目标,您的情绪、行为有了很大改变,我为您感到高兴。求助者:谢谢您!心理咨询师:接下来我们将要一起进行咨询效果评估,大概包括六个方面的内容。求助者:正是
《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》指出教育工作的根本要求是()。
甲、乙双方连续几年订有买卖“交流电机”的合同。有一次签订合同时,在“标的物”一栏只写了“电机”两字。当时正值交流电机热销,而甲方供不应求,故甲方就以直流电机交货。就民法的基本原则而言,甲方违反了()。
简述我国刑法关于追诉期限的规定
设A是n×m矩阵,B是m×n矩阵,E是n阶单位矩阵.若AB=E,证明:B的列向量组线性无关.
最新回复
(
0
)