Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Consumption affects every aspect of the contemporary world, from the most intimate moments of everyday life to the great geopolitical struggles that have been set in train by the forces of globalization. Consumer culture has recast the world in its own image, and we are only just beginning to make sense of the enormous social, political, economic, moral, and environmental implications.

By drawing from the arts, humanities, and social sciences, The Consumption Reader presents the history and geography of consumer societies, the social and political aspects of consumer culture, and the discourses and practices of consumption. It focuses in particular on the subjects, objects, spaces, and technologies of consumer societies, and provides an accessible insight into the theoretical debates that surround the interest in consumption and consumerism.

This reader offers an essential selection of the best work on the Consumer Society. The material is arranged to develop the student's knowledge through a logical progression, but it may also be read selectively to aid understanding of key issues, ideas, and authors. Students will appreciate its scope, clarity and ease of use, and the engaging, surprising, and thought provoking manner in which it brings together a diverse range of topics and theoretical perspectives.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• General Introduction
• Part 1 History Introduction
• 1 onsumption in early modern social thought
• 2 The consumer revolution of eighteenth-century England
• 3 Consumerism and the Industrial Revolution
• 4 Traditional and modern hedonism
• 5 Industrialism, consumerism, and power
• 6 The governance of consumption
• 7 Societies of consumers and consumer societies
• Part 2 Geography Introduction
• 8 Night life
• 9 What's modern about the modern world-system?
• 10 The Empire's old clothes
• 11 Plurality of taste
• 12 The world on a plate
• 13 The 'consumption' of tourism
• 14 A new look at gentrification
• 15 Urban lifestyles
• Part 3 Subjects and identity Introduction
• 16 Consumer sovereignty
• 17 The consumer's revolt
• 18 Subculture and style
• 19 Subcultures or neo-tribes?
• 20 Consumption and class
• 21 The body in consumer culture
• 22 Commerce and femininity
• 23 The three-body problem and the end of the world
• Part 4 Objects and Technology Introduction
• 24 The genealogy of advertising
• 25 Where are the missing masses?
• 26 Rodchenko in Paris
• 27 Toys
• 28 The Hoover in the garden
• 29 The two-way mirror
• 30 'We know who you are and we know where you live'
• Part 5 Theory Introduction
• 31 The gift and potlatch
• 32 Sacrifices and the wars of the Aztecs
• 33 Pecuniary emulation
• 34 The philosophy of fashion
• 35 Classes and classifications
• 36 Consumption and production
• 37 The ideological genesis of needs
• 38 The practice of everyday life

Author notes provided by Syndetics