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Consumerism, Work-life balance

Laurie Taylor explores the history of the modern, material world. Plus the middle-class bias in work-life balance research.

Consumerism: a history of our modern, material world and the endless quest for more 'things'. Laurie Taylor talks to Frank Trentmann, Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London and author of a study which examines how the purchase of goods became the defining feature of contemporary life. They're joined by Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.

Also, the middle class bias in work/life balance research. Tracey Warren, Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, suggests that working class experience of precarity complicates the debate.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Available now

28 minutes

RELATED LINKS

READING LIST

Frank Trentmann, Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First, (Penguin, 2016)

Broadcasts

  • Wed 3 Feb 2016 16:00
  • Mon 8 Feb 2016 00:15

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This programme is co-produced by the Open University.

Explore further with The Open University

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