Conceptualising the Consumer: British Socialist Democratic Political Economy in the Golden Age of Capitalisms

The article considers the conceptualisation of the consumer by British social democratic writers in the 'golden age' of post-war capitalism. It examines in particular their discussion of the neo-classical concepts of rationality and sovereignty and highlights the diversity and complexity of their positions in relation to these. It illustrates how these carried within them a particular view of individuals: their capacity for rational choice, their autonomy and their motivations, which informed in important and profound ways how different writers, and different groups of writers, viewed the nature and means of realising the social democratic project in an age of affluence.