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Buying Modernity? the Consumer Experience of Domestic Electricity in the Era of the Grid

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Buying Modernity? the Consumer Experience of Domestic Electricity in the Era of the Grid Buying Modernity? The Consumer Experience of Domestic Electricity in the Era of the Grid A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in the Faculty of Life Sciences 2012 Emily Hankin Contents Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5 Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6 Copyright Statement…………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………….. 7 Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 1.1. ‘More Work for Mother’: The American and British Context…… 11 1.2. Buying Modernity: Consumption and Modernity…………………….. 14 1.3. The Housewife Consumer…………………………………………………………. 19 1.4. Electrical Technologies in the Home………………………………………….. 24 1.5. Gender and Technology……………………………………………………………. 28 1.6. Methodology…………………………………………………………………………….. 31 1.7. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………… 39 Chapter 2 Supply………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 42 2.1. The National “Grid”…………………………………………………………………… 43 2.2. Competition with the Gas Industry……………………………………………. 54 2.3. Modern Architecture and British Homes…………………………………… 61 2.4. The Domestic Consumer of Electricity……………………………………….. 67 2.5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 76 Chapter 3 Cleanliness…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 78 3.1. Electric Ironing………………………………………………………………………….. 81 3.2. The Constructed Ideal of Domestic Cleanliness as Modernity……. 88 3.3. Vacuum Cleaners………………………………………………………………………. 92 3.4. Consumers of Electric Vacuum Cleaners……………………………………. 103 3.4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 106 Chapter 4 Hygiene…………………..…………………………………………………………………………………... 108 4.1. The Electrification of an Existing Technology: Electric Cookers.... 110 4.2. Refrigerators and the Constructed Ideal……………………………………. 126 4.3. Refrigerators: The Lived Reality…………………………………………………. 137 4.4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 140 2 Chapter 5 Leisure…………………………………………..…………………………………………………….......... 142 5.1. Gender Differences in Participation in Modern Domesticity…….. 145 5.2. Electrical Toys…………………………………………………………………………… 148 5.3. Men and Radio…………………………………………………………………………. 158 5.4. Family Relationships and the Radio…………………………………………… 162 5.5. Women Listeners………………………………………………………………………. 171 5.6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 173 Chapter 6 Grooming…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 174 6.1. The Bathroom and Electricity……………………………………………………. 177 6.2. Health and Beauty in the Bedroom…………………………………………… 187 6.3. Elsewhere in the Home………………..…………………………………………… 193 6.4. Electric Razors…………….…………………………………………………………….. 194 6.5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 198 Chapter 7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………... 200 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………… 209 Word Count: 76 820 3 Abbreviations BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BVC British Vacuum Company EAW Electrical Association for Women EDA Electrical Development Association HMSO Her Majesty’s Stationary Office IET Institution of Engineering and Technology MOSI Museum of Science and Industry SML Science Museum London 4 Abstract The University of Manchester Emily Hankin PhD Buying Modernity? The Consumer Experience of Domestic Electricity in the Era of the Grid 2012 In 1927 the Central Electricity Board began to oversee the building of the national grid. In the early development of electricity, electrical power was consumed by those privileged enough to be able to afford their own generators. A small number of local undertakings were established in urban centres during the 1920s but it was the nationalisation of electricity supply that gradually made electric power available to the masses. The electrical supply industry marketed electrical appliances as economical, efficient and clean alternatives to gas and coal, and, as time and labour saving appliances to the housewife. This thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach to the consumption of electricity and electrical technologies within the domestic environment, drawing upon the methodology of social construction of technology, historical geography, material culture studies and oral histories. It aims to compare and contrast constructions of the ideal modern electric home and electrical appliances with the lived reality of experiences of electricity in different homes across Britain to draw out the tensions between the two and explore how they mutually constructed and shaped each other. Using case studies of electric cookers, refrigerators, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, electric toys, radios, electric razors and hairdryers, it explores how the electrical industry constructed modernity and the ideal modern home in advertising material, the construction of the ‘housewife consumer’ and alternative users in the home, and the fluid nature of domestic space and its relationship with electricity. 5 Declaration No Portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’ 6 Acknowledgements This project was generously funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Case Award in Collaboration with the Science Museum London. I would like to thank Dr Jeffrey Hughes for his supervision, advice and support throughout my research and in the writing of this thesis. I also appreciate the guidance and support of Dr James Sumner and Dr David Kirby, particularly in the early formulation of my ideas. I am grateful to Helen Peavitt and Tim Boon at the Science Museum London, for their advice and encouragement. I would also like to recognise the curatorial team as well as the library, documentation, and archival staff at the Science Museum London who willingly helped with my queries and were a pleasure to meet. I also want to thank Sarah Hale, the archivist at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and Jan Shearsmith at the Museum Of Science and Industry for patiently helping me navigate my way through the archives. I wish to thank all the staff and students at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine for their academic and social support throughout my time in Manchester. The opportunity to participate within the academic community, at seminars and reading groups, and positive encouragement to discuss and develop my own work, was invaluable in my intellectual development. I would like particularly to thank Neil Pemberton, Alice Nicholls, Joanna Baines and most especially Rachael Russell for their friendly support. I owe a big thanks to all those who agreed to participate in my Oral History Interviews, for generously giving their time and sharing their experiences with me. Last but not least, I could not have achieved so much without the support of all my family and friends who have been an invaluable source of encouragement. 7 Chapter 1 Introduction Image 1.1: Electrical Development Association Advert for Electricity, 1928.1 1 EDA, (1928) ‘The Modern way of Housekeeping’ In The Electrical Age 1(10): p405. 8 The title of this thesis ‘Buying Modernity?’ inherently suggests the possibility that individuals could buy into modernity by purchasing electrical goods. This is a concept that is also suggested by the slogan in the 1928 advert pictured in Image 1.1., ‘The modern way of Housekeeping. The Electric way’. Modernity is a slippery concept that is hard to pin down and define. In the Oxford English Dictionary it is variously given as the ‘condition of being modern’ and: An intellectual tendency or social perspective characterized by departure from or repudiation of traditional ideas, doctrines and cultural values and beliefs (chiefly those of scientific rationalism and liberalism).2 Modernity as a process is in this
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