The Gospel of Enthusiasm: Salesmanship, Religion and Colonialism in Australian Department Stores in the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

This article considers the nexus between Christian religious practices and the emerging commercial institution of the department store in interwar Australia. It argues that interwar sales managers used religious ritual and language as transitional behavioural forms and as bastions of ‘authentic feeling’ in the face of mechanization, bureaucratization and rationalization. Drawing on the newly opened Coles Myer archive, it traces the attempts of managers and industrial welfare experts to mould salespeople to make them as effective as possible and to deal with the unintended consequences that arose from a perceived lack of authenticity and sincerity in the interactions between salespeople and their customers. It also examines how colonial ideology was woven into salesmanship training in interwar Australian department stores through the performance of store pageants and the writing of store histories.