'Shopkeepers and the state in Britain, 1870-1914' in G Crossick & H-G Haupt (eds), Shopkeepers and Master Artisans in Nineteenth Century Europe

Notes:

Explores some of the ways in which Britain's smallest shopkeepers perceived the state, seeking 'to understand the relationship [with the state] by examining the overall ideological context within which they responded to the more competitive atmosphere that emerged in retailing from the latter decades of the nineteenth century'. Uses parliamentary enquiries, the retail trade press, records of shopkeeper organisations, etc, to discover 'the broad divisions among shopkeepers ... and the contours of shopkeeper ideology'. These emerge through 'arguments over the adulteration laws, civil service stores, closing hours, the struggle against consumer co-operation and the response to large scale capital as it penetrated retailing through department stores and then multiples ...'