Unlocking the padlock
Retail and public policy in Belgium (1930–1961)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8420635 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Heyrman (0000-0003-3501-9775, KADOC-KU Leuven, Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society, Leuven, Belgium, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1049-1081 |
| Publication date | 2018-10-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Business History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6791 • E-ISSN: 1743-7938 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00076791.2017.1319940 |
| OpenAlex | W2614035031 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 26 |
During the inter-war and post-war decades, until the dawn of the 1960s, the Belgian retail sector remained very traditional and overcrowded. In that context literature usually points to the Belgian law of 1936/1937 restricting the expansion of department stores. This article outlines the history of this so-called Padlock Law (Loi de Cadenas/Grendelwet), and evaluates its effectiveness and impact. It tries to answer the question as to why the public debate on retailing in Belgium was caught in a deadlock and, specifically, why prohibitive measures against big distribution remained intact for such a long period. It demonstrates how the political dossier of the Padlock was interlinked with a much broader societal debate, that of the survival of the independent classes moyennes/middenstand. The Padlock became a highly symbolic issue, pitting small, family enterprises against big, capitalistic businesses, with all this linked to powerful social perceptions and powered by the dichotomy of modernity versus tradition. In the highly segmented and pillarised Belgian society, reaching a consensus on the modernisation of retailing was only possible after clearly incorporating small independent enterprises into the post-war neo-corporatist welfare state and into its structures of collective bargaining
Context (archaeology · Economics · Economy · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Welfare state · History · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration
Small Shops and Department Stores
Democracies
Varieties of Capitalism
Macroeconomics and Varieties of Capitalism
Getting and Spending
Un milieu libéral et européen
Divergent Capitalisms
A forgotten anniversary
De middenstandsorganizaties en de gemeenteverkiezingen in vijf Belgische steden (1895-1952)
The Strategy of a Belgian multiple grocer
Belgian Government Policy and the Petite Bourgeoisie (1918–40)
Metaphors of the Middle
Une politique de la distribution est-elle souhaitable et possible
Excessive Competition in the Retail Trades. Changes in the Numbers of Shops, 1901-1931
Culture Without Class
The Fascist ‘Disciplining’ of the Italian Retail Sector, 1922–40
Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems
Le concept de classes moyennes. Notion sociologique ou slogan politique
Dictionnaire des patrons en Belgique
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2020 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |