From head shops to Whole Foods : the rise and fall of activist entrepreneurs / Joshua Clark Davis.

Author
Davis, Joshua Clark [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]
Description
1 online resource (xiv, 314 pages) : illustrations

Availability

Available Online

Details

Subject(s)
Series
Columbia studies in the history of U.S. capitalism [More in this series]
Summary note
In the 1960s and '70s, a diverse range of storefronts-including head shops, African American bookstores, feminist businesses, and organic grocers-brought the work of the New Left, Black Power, feminism, environmentalism, and other social movements into the marketplace. Through shared ownership, limited growth, and workplace democracy, these "activist entrepreneurs" offered alternatives to conventional profit-driven corporate business models. By the middle of the 1970s, thousands of these enterprises operated across the United States-but only a handful survive today. Some, like Whole Foods Market, have abandoned their quest for collective political change in favor of maximizing profits. Vividly portraying the struggles, successes, and sacrifices made by these unlikely entrepreneurs, Clark Davis writes a new history of movements and capitalism by showing how activists embraced small businesses in a way few historians have considered. The book rethinks the widespread idea that the work of activism and political dissent is inherently antithetical to business and market activity. It uncovers the historical roots of contemporary interest in ethical consumption, social enterprise, mission-driven businesses, and buying local while also showing how today's companies have adopted the language-but not often the mission-of liberation and social change.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Source of description
Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
Contents
  • Introduction
  • Activist business: origins and ideologies
  • Liberation through literacy: African American bookstores, Black Power, and the mainstreaming of black books
  • The business of getting high: head shops, countercultural capitalism, and the battle over marijuana
  • "The feminist economic revolution": businesses in the women's movement
  • Natural foods stores: environmental entrepreneurs and the perils of growth
  • Perseverance and appropriation: activist business in the twenty-first century
  • Conclusion.
ISBN
  • 9780231543088 ((electronic bk.))
  • 0231543085 ((electronic bk.))
LCCN
2017011171
OCLC
974912654
Doi
  • 10.7312/davi17158
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
Other views
Staff view