Consumption and Violence: Radical Protest in Cold-War West Germany (2014) by Sedlmaier

Description

In Consumption and Violence: Radical Protest in Cold-War West Germany (2014, University of Michigan Press) Alexander Sedlmaier redirects our attention to long-term changes in consumption and lifestyle. Drawing on extensive new archival material, Sedlmaier’s work is concerned with detailing the theoretical relationship between violence and abundance in the context of West Germany, and showing how militant protest and political violence can essentially be traced back to competing concepts of moral economy. How the consumption critique (Konsumkritik) in Post-War Germany and how the critique of regimes of provision spurred new modes of protest and new forms of being militant are fascinating issues, and Sedlmaier’s volume provides stimulating and thought-provoking reading.