Toys, Consumption, and Middle Class Childhood in Imperial Germany, 1871--1918

338 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003.This was by no means a simple, uncontested process. Adults fought over proper toy form and use. Many wanted technologically exact miniatures of real things such as trains and doll houses designed to prepare boys and girls for future callings. Others just as passionately called for more generic, simpler miniatures that forced children to use their imagination. They believed it was more important to teach critical thinking skills than to telescope youngsters into a profession. The vibrant consumer culture surrounding toys facilitated this very public debate. Producers willingly responded to buyers from both camps, and individual consumers created and marketed their own toys. The making, marketing, and consumption of miniatures formed a site around which we can see how adults as consumers tried to fashion modern, middle-class citizens out of boys and girls. They also remind us that Imperial Germany had a vibrant consumer culture that allowed people to shape social values.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD