Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology

Although individual women who lived at several particular sites were named, the consumer choice framework did not include gender because documentary research had not yet established which gender selected which artifacts of those acquired in the market or as heirlooms or gifts and used by a family or household.

“Although individual women who lived at several particular sites were named, the consumer choice framework did not include gender because documentary research had not yet established which gender selected which artifacts of those acquired in the market or as heirlooms or gifts and used by a family or household (Spencer-Wood, 1987a;1987b:10).”

The consumer choice framework was concerned with relating dynamic interactions among the variables of market access, socioeconomic status, class, race, ethnicity, age, family life cycle, and/or political identities of particular individuals, households or neighborhoods to material differences in lived experiences, including material expressions of power, prestige, domination, competition or status

“The consumer choice framework was concerned with relating ''dynamic interactions'' among the variables of market access, socioeconomic status, class, race, ethnicity, age, family life cycle, and/or political identities of particular individuals, households or neighborhoods to material differences in lived experiences, including material expressions of power, prestige, domination, competition or”

This early inclusive both/and intersectional framework consciously moved away from the previous scientific either/or single-variable methodology, and some chapters found that some individual, household or neighborhood consumer choices were related more closely to family life cycle, household size and structure, ethnic or racial identities than to class.

“This early inclusive both/and intersectional framework consciously moved away from the previous scientific either/or single-variable methodology, and some chapters found that some individual, household or neighborhood consumer choices were related more closely to family life cycle, household size and structure, ethnic or racial identities than to class (Spencer- Wood, 1987b:11-12).”

Spencer-Wood's multivariate framework for analyzing several factors involved in individual and household consumer choices is about the social agency of selecting goods used to express multiple identities, most often described as membership, participation in, or affiliation with, social groups.

“Indeed, Spencer-Wood's (1987b) multivariate framework for analyzing several factors involved in individual and household consumer choices is about the social agency of selecting goods used to express multiple identities, most often described as membership, participation in, or affiliation with, social groups.”