The Cinderella of Occupations
Managing the Work of Department Store Saleswomen, 1900–1940
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9622430 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan Porter Benson (Bristol Community College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-25 |
| Publication date | 1981-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Business History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6805 • E-ISSN: 2044-768X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3114439 |
| OpenAlex | W2149036238 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 16 |
Of all forms of personal services supplied to business enterprise, that of sales workers has perhaps defied the application of “standard” management practices more than any other. Professor Benson shows that this generalization is especially applicable to female department store sales personnel, who were necessarily recruited chiefly from “lower” social classes whose members lacked education and refinement. Thus, regimentation and rote training seemed appropriate. On the other hand, selling style goods to sophisticated female customers involved elements not of a trade but an art, and an attitude of deference, which was not a common trait among working-class girls. Department store managers, almost exclusively male, failed to solve this paradox and, as Professor Benson relates, failed also to deal with the invisible solidarity of female sales persons
Business · Class (philosophy · Deference · Economics · Generalization · Management · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Solidarity · Style (visual arts · Work (physics · American History and Culture · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Engineering · History · Law · Marketing · Psychology · Social Psychology
Labor and monopoly capital
Century of struggle
The Visible Hand
Labor and Monopoly Capital
The Department Store, its origins, Evolution and Economics
Alexander Turney Stewart and the Development of the Department Store, 1823-1876
Urban Retailing 100 Years Ago
Behavior in a Selling Group
Behavior in a Selling Group
Managers and Workers
The Female World of Love and Ritual
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1982 - 2012 (31) |
| Highly cited | No |