Capitalism and the Senses / / ed. by Regina Lee Blaszczyk, David Suisman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2023 English
• MitwirkendeR: Anderman, Nicholas,; Blaszczyk, Regina Lee,; Clark, Jessica P.,; Elias, Megan J.,
• HerausgeberIn: Blaszczyk, Regina Lee,; Suisman, David,
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)

Capitalism and the Senses is the first edited volume to explore how the forces of capitalism are entangled with everyday sensory experience. If the senses have a history, as Karl Marx wrote, then that history is inseparable from the development of capitalism, which has both taken advantage of the senses and influenced how sensory experience has changed over time.This pioneering collection shows how seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching have both shaped and been shaped by commercial interests from the turn of the twentieth century to our own time. From the manipulation of taste and texture in the food industry to the careful engineering of the feel of artificial fabrics, capitalist enterprises have worked to commodify the senses in a wide variety of ways. Drawing on history, anthropology, geography, and other fields, the volume’s essays analyze not only where this effort has succeeded but also where the senses have resisted control and the logic of markets. The result is an innovative ensemble that demonstrates how the drive to exploit sensorial experience for profit became a defining feature of capitalist modernity and establishes the senses as an important dimension of the history of capitalism.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Series editor’s foreword -- Introduction -- PART I Framing Capitalism and the Senses -- Chapter 1 “Use Not Perfumery to Flavor Soup” The Science of the Senses in Aesthetic Capitalism -- Chapter 2 Chasing Flavor: Sensory Science and the Economy -- Chapter 3 Richer Sounds: Capitalism, Musical Instruments, and the Cold War Sonic Divide -- PART II Resisting Rationalization -- Chapter 4 Altered States and Gustatory Taste: The Sensory Synergies of Whiskey Marketing in the Mid-Twentieth- Century United States -- Chapter 5 The Psychophysics of Taste and Smell: From Experimental Science to Commercial Tool -- Chapter 6 Sky’s the Limit: Capitalism, the Senses, and the Failure of Commercial Supersonic Aviation in the United States -- Chapter 7 Sounding Maritime Metal: On Weathering Steel and Listening to Capitalism at Sea -- PART III Production -- Chapter 8 Making Human Trash Tasty: A History of Sweet Cattle Feed in the Progressive Era -- Chapter 9 Getting a Handle on It: Thomas Lamb, Mass Production, and Touch in Design History -- PART IV Marketplace -- Chapter 10 Fragrance and Fair Women: Perfumers and Consumers in Modern London -- Chapter 11 Sold on Softness: DuPont Synthetics and Sensory Experience -- Chapter 12 Feminine Touches: The Sensory World of Lady Hilton -- Notes -- Contributors -- Index