Creating consumers: home economists in twentieth-century America

Home economics emerged at the turn of the 20th century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers as American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced.

To guide women in this transition, professional home economists had two major goals: to teach women to assume their new roles as modern consumers and to communicate homemakers' needs to manufacturers and political leaders.

Carolyn M. Goldstein charts the development of the profession through the century.