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How Self-Service Happened: The Vision and Reality of Changing Market Practices in Britain

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Imagining Britain’s Economic Future, c.1800–1975

Abstract

Self-service has become a normative practice in most UK shops, and in wider society and its attitudes. Self-service is the heartbeat of a liberal economy and consumer society. Yet before 1942, self-service did not exist in the UK. How did it become such a routine part of market activity? This chapter explores the role of distribution and the public reception of self-service. Drawing on a range of sources, it disturbs the assumptions in the existing literature that the concept was an American import and model, and naturally popular with shoppers. It offers a more integrated account of how markets operated and were perceived—from the supply chain to retailers to consumers, and from structural and logistical issues to the emotions and instincts of the shopping public.

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Notes

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  39. 39.

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  44. 44.

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  57. 57.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, York, UK

    Lawrence Black & Thomas Spain

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  1. Lawrence Black
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  1. Department of History, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

    David Thackeray

  2. Department of History, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

    Andrew Thompson

  3. Department of History, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

    Richard Toye

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Black, L., Spain, T. (2018). How Self-Service Happened: The Vision and Reality of Changing Market Practices in Britain. In: Thackeray, D., Thompson, A., Toye, R. (eds) Imagining Britain’s Economic Future, c.1800–1975. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71297-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71297-0_8

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