Consumption and Gender in Southern Europe Since the Long 1960s

Citation

Kornetis K, Kotsovili E & Papadogiannis N (eds.) (2016) Consumption and Gender in Southern Europe Since the Long 1960s. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474296151

Abstract
Consumption and Gender in Southern Europe since the Long 1960s offers an in-depth analysis of the relationship between gender and contemporary consumer cultures in post-authoritarian Southern European societies. The book sees a diverse group of international scholars from across the social sciences draw on 14 original case studies to explore the social and cultural changes that have taken place in Spain, Portugal and Greece since the 1960s. This is the first scholarly attempt to look at the countries’ similar political and socioeconomic experiences in the shift from authoritarianism to democracy through the intersecting topics of gender and consumer culture. This comparative analysis is a timely contribution to the field, providing much needed reflection on the social origins of the contemporary economic crisis that Spain, Portugal and Greece have simultaneously experienced. Bringing together past and present, the volume elaborates on the interplay between the current crisis and the memory of everyday life activities, with a focus on gender and consumer practices. Consumption and Gender in Southern Europe since the Long 1960s firmly places the Southern European region in a wider European and transatlantic context. Among the key issues that are critically discussed are ‘Americanization’, the ‘cultural revolution of the Long 1960s’ and representations of the ‘Model Mrs Consumer' in the three societies. This is an important text for anyone interested in the modern history of Southern Europe or the history of gender and consumer culture in modern Europe more generally. This volume explores the intersection between consumer cultures and gender since the 1960s in and between Spain, Portugal and Greece. It co-examines these contexts, due to their shared experience of dictatorial rule and the subsequent transition to democracy. Contributors either take a directly comparative perspective or offer cues for such a comparison. The volume extends to the present, since the financial crisis that all three countries have been experiencing since the early 2010s has triggered reflection not only on transition to democracy, but also on consumer patterns and gender relations there since the 1960s. Our case studies help refine a number of key concepts for the analysis of consumption and gender not only in the European South, but also in Northern Europe and North America. The volume addresses the key categories of the ‘Long 1960s and ‘Americanization’. It demonstrates that these societies were to an extent linked with what Arthur Marwick describes as ‘cultural revolution of the Long Sixties’, although no uniform ‘Southwestern plus Greek’ version of this appeared. In addition, it argues that the shifts in material culture in these countries are not merely the outcome of cultural Americanization, but also of intra-European transfers as well as of transnational flows stemming from non-‘Western’ countries. Finally, it revisits transitions from dictatorship to democracy in these three countries and complements the perspective that prevails in relevant transitological research, which focuses on ‘high politics’. It shows that the transition to democracy brought complex developments that did not necessarily amount to democratization of gender relations and expansion of consumer practices.

Keywords
Consumer cultures; Gender; Southern Europe; Long Sixties; Postmodernity; Americanization; Transition to democracy

People

Dr Nikolaos Papadogiannis

Lecturer in European History, History