Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940 (Working Class in American History)

The luxurious appearance and
handsome profits of American department stores from 1890 to 1940 masked
a three-way struggle among saleswomen, managers, and customers for control
of the selling floor. Counter Cultures explores the complex nature
and contradictions of the conflict in an arena where class, gender, and
the emerging culture of consumption all came together.
"Counter Cultures
is a path-breaking and imaginative social history. Benson has made an
original and sophisticated contribution to the study of the work process
in the service sector."
-- Journal of American History
"Counter Cultures
advances our understanding of the history of women and work, and it does
so in an engaging way that should command the attention not only of historians
but of a general readership as well."
-- Women's Review of Books