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The Working Class in American History
Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940
The luxurious appearance and handsome profits of American department stores from 1890 to 1940 masked a three-way struggle among saleswomen, managers, and customers for control of the selling floor. Counter Cultures explores the complex nature and contradictions of the conflict in an arena where class, gender, and the emerging culture of consumption all came together. The result is a fascinating illumination of the emotional labor of the workplace and the work-culture of consumerism that still defines the workday for millions of Americans.
344 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 1, 2014
I absolutely LOVED this book. You've got to be interested in department store history or social history to want to read it - but it's full of insights into the dynamics of the big store. It was a world of male executives and female clerks - and a world of female clerks giving advice to female shoppers of a higher class; lots of contradictions and conflicts, and lots of great stories throughout.
August 26, 2024
A must for those who appreciate the days of old-fashioned retail.
I loved how Benson used the phrase “consumption palace” to describe department stores, and “an Adam-less Eden to describe the salesfloor. The book’s focus was on the interplay between saleswoman, management and customer. There were conflicts between them all. Management’s effort to control both saleswoman and customer was useless. Benson noted how department store management tried to use the practices used on manufacturing workers to train and control department store salespeople. The early and current days of retail sales are no different from other professions. Management thinks in terms of trimming costs, and assumes they know better than the customer and the salesperson, just as the teacher or nurse and their administrators.
One thing cracked me up, when discussing managers, they complained about the “free time” saleswomen had when not interacting with a customer or doing stock work. Managers tried to control saleswomen by educating, influencing their behavior thinking they could make them into an ideal sales tool. But they could not control the salesperson-customer interaction. The only thing the stores did not do is pay their women fairly. Management at the time did not want self-service selling in any degree. A drastic turnaround compared to the big box stores of today.
There was a time when buyers had more power over management. Buyers interacted with saleswomen rather than administration, and both protected each other over various rules and polices. Who else would know better than the salesperson what goes on between customer and merchandise?
I did identify with the contradictory rules management tried to inflict on their saleswomen. Of course, in many instances the saleswomen won every time. Management still must depend on the saleswoman’s talents and not their own.
I loved how Benson used the phrase “consumption palace” to describe department stores, and “an Adam-less Eden to describe the salesfloor. The book’s focus was on the interplay between saleswoman, management and customer. There were conflicts between them all. Management’s effort to control both saleswoman and customer was useless. Benson noted how department store management tried to use the practices used on manufacturing workers to train and control department store salespeople. The early and current days of retail sales are no different from other professions. Management thinks in terms of trimming costs, and assumes they know better than the customer and the salesperson, just as the teacher or nurse and their administrators.
One thing cracked me up, when discussing managers, they complained about the “free time” saleswomen had when not interacting with a customer or doing stock work. Managers tried to control saleswomen by educating, influencing their behavior thinking they could make them into an ideal sales tool. But they could not control the salesperson-customer interaction. The only thing the stores did not do is pay their women fairly. Management at the time did not want self-service selling in any degree. A drastic turnaround compared to the big box stores of today.
There was a time when buyers had more power over management. Buyers interacted with saleswomen rather than administration, and both protected each other over various rules and polices. Who else would know better than the salesperson what goes on between customer and merchandise?
I did identify with the contradictory rules management tried to inflict on their saleswomen. Of course, in many instances the saleswomen won every time. Management still must depend on the saleswoman’s talents and not their own.
March 15, 2008
Benson explores the interlocking forces of class and gender in this compelling social history of women sales clerks in the newly-developed "department stores." Working-class women were depended upon as salesclerks by the (male) managers, as upper-class women were taught to see the stores as places of "recreation and sociability."
The clerks, managers and customers constituted a kind of gender-class triangle: "When mangers and customers exerted unified pressure on the saleswoman, her life could be difficult indeed; but when she could play one off against the other she could create new space for herself on her job.”
The only critique is that unfortunately, like so many labor historians, Benson overlooks the role of race in creating these socioeconomic classes -- black women were neither salesclerks nor customers, but they were not disconnected from the context of the narrative. Nonetheless, as a social history of white working-class salesclerks, this is an important book.
The clerks, managers and customers constituted a kind of gender-class triangle: "When mangers and customers exerted unified pressure on the saleswoman, her life could be difficult indeed; but when she could play one off against the other she could create new space for herself on her job.”
The only critique is that unfortunately, like so many labor historians, Benson overlooks the role of race in creating these socioeconomic classes -- black women were neither salesclerks nor customers, but they were not disconnected from the context of the narrative. Nonetheless, as a social history of white working-class salesclerks, this is an important book.
August 16, 2014
Susan Porter Benson, Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940 (1986)
1. Study of the rise of American department stores
2. The rise of sales work allowed the women a measure of creativity and control over their job
3. Emphasizes that women's historical experience was much different than mens, both on the shop floor and at home
1. Study of the rise of American department stores
2. The rise of sales work allowed the women a measure of creativity and control over their job
3. Emphasizes that women's historical experience was much different than mens, both on the shop floor and at home
October 20, 2007
This book was amazing. I really enjoyed it, especially since I have worked in retail. Beware, it will make you want to go shopping. I hate shopping and all I could think about was buying stuff as I read this book.
April 25, 2013
A very intereseting and documented study on department stores, working classes and gender issues. Finely written and really entertaining, a book that's really worth, even if you're not specifically interested on the subject matter. Absolutely recommendable.
July 25, 2011
I'm having footnote anxiety after reading this. Very, very thorough research.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews