Christine Frederick (February 6, 1883 – April 6, 1970) was an American home economist and early 20th century exponent of Taylorism as applied to the domestic sphere.

She wrote books on these subjects, the best-known of which is probably Selling Mrs. Consumer, which offers an early justification for planned obsolescence as a necessary feature of the industrial economy.

Becoming interested in Taylorism as applied to the domestic sphere, Frederick founded and directed a laboratory for conducting Taylorist experiments at her home in Greenlawn, New York.

[4] At the Applecroft Home Experiment Station, Frederick investigated some 1,800 different products from household appliances to food, looking for labor-saving methods of preparation and use.

[5] In 1912, Frederick began a series of articles under the title 'New Housekeeping' in the Ladies' Home Journal (for which she served as consulting household editor) to explain Taylorism to middle-class women.

Rejecting the traditional idea that products should be made to last, they argued instead for obsolescence as a kind of ‘creative waste’ that kept the industrial economy running smoothly.