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Historical Dimensions of Consumer Research
Historical Archaeology, 25 (2): pp. 30-45 (1991)
Аннотация
Consumer behavior has been widely studied within the social sciences, and there is a diverse body of empirical data and theory available. A brief review of the literature shows clearly that expenditures for food constituted the dominant element in the budgets of the poor and working class pre-industrial households. The relative amount spent for food has been used within the social sciences as an indicator of a household's economic well-being, with more wealthy households allocating a lower proportion of their budgets for food. Archaeological techniques are well suited to the study of foodways, and foodways is the area where archaeologists have contributed significantly to an understanding of historical consumption patterns. The analytical techniques currently used by archaeologists are best suited for simple description and identification. As a whole, archaeologists have not produced successful comparative studies, partially because of a lack of standard analytical techniques among different researchers, but also because of a lack of historical context and sound theoretical models. It is argued that archaeologists need to utilize concepts that have been proven useful by economists, sociologists, and historians, so that findings will have broader significance within the social sciences.
