From Graven Images: Patterns of Modern Materialism

362 Pages·1983·14.086 MB·English

by  Chandra Mukerji

FROM GRAVEN IMAGES
Patterns of Modem Materialism
CHANDRA MUKERJI
FROM GRAVEN IMAGES
Patterns of Modern Materialism
CHANDRA MUKERJI
In this startling new look at the roots of
technological innovation and mass con¬
sumption in Western society, Chandra
Mukerji demonstrates that the Western
obsession with economic development
and material comfort actually goes
back well before the Industrial Revolu¬
tion and that it, in fact, provided the
cultural impetus for industrialism.
Searching for the beginnings of the
development of European materialistic
culture in the early modern period, the
author locates those beginnings and
illuminates the dynamics of the culture
that gave birth to them in four intrigu¬
ing case studies. The first traces the
development of simple printed pictures
as forms of mass culture contrasting
with the better-known Renaissance art
that was emerging at the same time.
The second focuses on the publication
of maps and geographical writings, the
control of which was used to improve
the state’s competitive position. The
third study examines the “book of
nature” metaphor of the seventeenth-
century “scientific revolution,” which
gave rise to the new science and the
growth of scientific economics. The last
takes as a case study the growth of the
British cotton industry, and shows how
the new cultural forms discussed in the
early part of the book combined to
(continued on hack flap)

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FROM GRAVEN
IMAGES
Patterns of
Modern Materialism
Chandra Mukerji
Columbia University Press
New York 1983
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mukerji, Chandra.
From graven images.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Consumption (Economics)—History. 2. Popular
culture—History. 3. Materialism — History.
4. Printing—History. 5. Europe—Manufactures—
History. I. Title.
HC51.M77 1983 338.4'76862'09 83-10148
ISBN 0-231-05266-2
ISBN 0-231-05167-0 (pbk.)
Clothbound editions of Columbia University Press books are Smyth-
sewn and printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Copyright © 1983 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Columbia University Press
New York Guildford, Surrey