Consumption and the 'social self' in Medieval Southern England

Over the last 30 years we have become increasingly aware of the commercializing nature of the medieval English economy. However, these insights have had little impact on narratives of consumption, which persist in seeing it as a characteristic of modernity. Here it is argued that we must move away from seeing an early modern consumer revolution and instead think about consumption in medieval society, particularly to examine the implications of commercialization for identity and selfhood. A framework is developed, building upon David G. Shaw’s use of the ‘social self’ and the writing of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, to explore how the increasing variability of a wider range of objects impacted upon the negotiation of selfhood in the 13th-15th centurie