Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America

by Carolyn M. Goldstein

Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this transition, professional home economists had two major to teach women to assume their new roles as modern consumers and to communicate homemakers' needs to manufacturers and political leaders. Carolyn M. Goldstein charts the development of the profession from its origins as an educational movement to its identity as a source of consumer expertise in the interwar period to its virtual disappearance by the 1970s.Working for both business and government, home economists walked a fine line between educating and representing consumers while they shaped cultural expectations about consumer goods as well as the goods themselves. Goldstein looks beyond 1970s feminist scholarship that dismissed home economics for its emphasis on domesticity to reveal the movement's complexities, including the extent of its public impact and debates about home economists' relationship to the commercial marketplace.

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 28, 2012

Reviews

[MargaretDH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly researched account of the rise of home economists as a profession, and their role in 20th century America.

I was hoping for a cultural history of this group, and an examination of the values and social factors that led to the professionalization of women consumers. Instead, Goldstein produced a densely detailed narrative of the development of the profession, which was still interesting, but not what I was hoping for. I wouldn't recommend picking this up unless you're interested in the minutiae of the education, jobs and professional association of home economists. It wouldn't hurt to have some grounding in the Progressive Era, especially as it relates to women in the home, because Goldstein assumes that you do.

This is a solid piece of academic literature, and I'd only recommend it for someone who is looking for a high level of detail.

PS Never forget that the noble home economists brought us a lot of wonderful things, like standardized cup measures and Rice Krispie Squares.

[Mills College Library]

640.023 G6244 2012