The Development of the Department Store in the United States

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The department store is mainly like an urban concept as far as I understand. People are leaving cities, people are going out to the suburbs and all of a sudden they're shopping malls that are springing up. You get Walmart's, you get targets, you get discount retailers, dollar generals,. And they really benefit from the deregulation of trucking too, even more so than other types of change stores. Being able to bring more and more people into a consumer mindset is great for people who are trying to manage privatization. If you spend decades indoctrinating wealthier people into this mindset then you can see division within lower classes.

Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls.

Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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