Doctoral Dissertation Research: Markets as Producers and Consumers - The French and U.S. Bicycle Markets, 1890-1910

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Sociological work on the operation of economic markets focuses primarily on how firms relate to and compete with one another, but ignores consumption issues. Work on consumption looks at how people use objects and what they mean, but usually ignores production. This project examines how both producers and consumers contribute to the formation and operation of markets. To do so, it investigates two single-product markets that differed in their outcomes. While a bicycle market developed in both France and the United States during the 1890s, the market in France continued to expand for decades. In contrast, the market in the United States collapsed around 1900 - twenty years before a mass automobile market was possible. Using data stored in archives in France and the United States, the project explores the roles played by marketing strategies, class and ethnic differences in consumption, and road systems in determining the contrasting market outcomes.