The United States is widely recognized as the quintessential consumer society, one where huge companies like Walmart and Amazon are famous for enticing customers with cheap goods and speedy delivery. Attention, Shoppers! traces the origins and evolution of American retail capitalism from the late nineteenth century to today, uncovering the roots of a bitter equilibrium where large low-cost retailers dominate and vast numbers of low-income families now rely on them to make ends meet.
About the Author
Kathleen Thelen is Ford Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her books include How Institutions Evolve, Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity, and (with Jacob S. Hacker, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, and Paul Pierson) The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power.