Seeing the World Second Hand
Mad Men and the Vintage Consumer
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2642032 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline Hamilton (The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2012-09-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cultural Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1446-8123 • E-ISSN: 1837-8692 |
| Publisher | University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5130/csr.v18i2.2766 |
| OpenAlex | W2018196007 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
This essay explores the way Mad Men's narrative engages with changing patterns of consumption and the implicit amorality and self-interest of consumer culture. The new consumer of the 1960s searched for ways to express individual identity through consumer goods that advertised themselves as rare, exclusive and with the aura of legitimacy. At the start of the twenty-first century this same consumer now concerns themselves with provenance, craftsmanship and ethical production. These concerns find their greatest expression in the act of vintage shopping. This essay examines these consumer habits in terms of the celebration and criticism of Mad Men. While some welcome the program's obsessive period accuracy and curatorship, others consider these features to be nothing more than 'window dressing' obscuring the significant moral and political issues at stake in the era
Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Consumer Culture · Consumerism · Consumption (sociology · Criticism · Identity (music · Legitimacy · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Vintage · Cinema and Media Studies · Cultural History and Identity Formation · European history and politics · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |