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- Title
Revitalization of Pre-Industrial Household Technology---A Crisis or a Phenomenon of Affluence: The Baker's Oven as an Example.
- Authors
Christophersen, Bj&aslash;rg Tønnesland
- Abstract
This article discusses the significance the technology of the baker's oven has had, especially in times of crisis, for women on the south coast of Norway, as well as the historical and social conditions for the baker's oven and the revitalization of the use of this oven. The technology of the baker's oven equaled the knowledge of women. It was often the oldest woman who was responsible for the baking of bread. To bake bread was highly evaluated, but was possibly also associated with the woman's role, so that if men had baked they would have exceeded the boundaries of sex identity. Therefore the cultural socialization of the children was essential so that they knew the content of their sex roles from the beginning. The values behind the revival of the ovens are connected with quality, experience, individualism, exoticism, being something special and the avant-garde. The function of the baker's oven as a consumption good, or as a kind of furniture, will be compared with other costly consumer goods such as cars, boats, and furniture, which have a relatively short consumption lifetime. Therefore there are no reasons to believe that the new life of the baker's oven will last forever. It can just as well be an artificial respiration of a tradition vulnerable to the waves of fashion and the liability of the leisure and affluent society.
- Subjects
NORWAY; STOVES; BAKING equipment; SOCIAL conditions of women; SOCIAL history
- Publication
Journal of Popular Culture, 1993, Vol 26, Issue 4, p79
- ISSN
1540-5931
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.0022-3840.1993.2604_79.x