Research project The Defense of Consumption: Advertising, gender and citizenship in Sweden during World War II
The aim of this project is to show how Swedish consumer society was maintained and transformed in relation to gender and citizenship during World War II.
World War II (WWII) has been identified as the first war in history fought by and between consumer societies. The aim of this project is to show how Swedish consumer society was maintained and transformed in relation to gender and citizenship during these years of crisis. In order to do so we use advertising as a prism.
Project description
World War II (WWII) has been identified as the first war in history fought by and between consumer societies. The aim of this project is to show how Swedish consumer society was maintained and transformed in relation to gender and citizenship during these years of crisis. In order to do so we use advertising as a prism.
The project consists of four sub-studies including an examination of the advertising industry and how actors negotiated their role in relation to the war crisis; the segmentation of the consumer market along lines of e.g. gender, class, and region; how the actual adverts changed in relation to gender and citizenship; as well as how increased state interventionism shaped commercial contributions to the national war effort.
Mixed methods and materials are used: quantitative content analysis is combined with qualitative text and image analysis of advertisements.
The findings will contribute to four major fields of international research: consumer cultural studies of WWII, gender and consumer culture history, gendered military history, and media and advertising history.
Project members
Project managers
Klara Arnberg
Associate Professor
Members
Docent Nikolas Glover
Docent
Fia Sundevall
Associate Professor
