Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption

Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption PDF Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761971207
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
In this book, one of the leading social theorists and cultural commentators of modern times, turns his gaze on consumption. George Ritzer, author of the famous McDonaldization Thesis, demonstrates the irrational consequences of the rational desire to consume and commodify. He examines how McDonaldization might be resisted, and situates the reader in the new cultural spaces that are emerging in society: shopping malls, casino hotels, Disneyfied theme parks and Las Vegas -- the new `cathedrals of consumption' as he calls them. The book shows how new processes of consumption relate to globalization theory. In illuminating discussions of the work of Thorstein Veblen and the French situationists, Ritzer unearths the roots of problems of consumption in older sociological traditions. He indicates how transgression is bound up with consumption, through an investigation of the obscene in popular and postmodern culture.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology PDF Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119250633
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 695

Book Description
Featuring a collection of original chapters by leading and emerging scholars, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology presents a comprehensive and balanced overview of the major topics and emerging trends in the discipline of sociology today. Features original chapters contributed by an international cast of leading and emerging sociology scholars Represents the most innovative and 'state-of-the-art' thinking about the discipline Includes a general introduction and section introductions with chapters summaries by the editor

The Sociology of Consumption

The Sociology of Consumption PDF Author: Joel Stillerman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745696910
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
The Sociology of Consumption: A Global Approach offers college students, scholars, and interested readers a state-of-the-art overview of consumption the desire for, purchase, use, display, exchange, and disposal of goods and services. The book’s global focus, emphasis on social inequality, and analysis of consumer citizenship offer a timely, exciting, and original approach to the topic. Looking beyond the U.S. and Europe, Stillerman engages examples from his and others’ research in Chile and other Latin American countries, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and East and South Asia to explore the interaction between global and local forces in consumption. The text explores the lived experience of being a consumer, demonstrating how social inequalities based on class, gender, sexuality, race, and age shape consumer practices and identities. Finally, the book uncovers the important role consumption has played in fueling local and international activism. This welcome new book will be ideal for classes on consumer culture across the social sciences, humanities, and marketing.

Explorations in Consumer Culture Theory

Explorations in Consumer Culture Theory PDF Author: John F. Sherry
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135971331
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
The literature of marketplace behaviour, long dominated by economic and psychological discourse, has matured in the last decade to reveal the vast expanse of consumption activity not adequately addressed – in either theoretical or empirical perspective - by the discipline's favoured approaches. The lived experience of consumption in cultural and historical context, rendered in a fashion that is both intellectually insightful and authentically evocative, and that recognizes the dynamics of accommodation and resistance that characterize the individual's relationship with the market, is the central interpretive thrust of an emerging interdisciplinary field inquiry broadly labelled "consumer culture theory." In this volume, some of the leading scholars of this field explore in great empirical detail and theoretical depth the relationships that the consumer has developed both with goods and services and with the stakeholders that animate markets. Beginning with an examination of the underpinnings of cultural inquiry, the focus then shifts to specific consumption venues. Analyses of advertising in personal, critical and historical perspective, examination of lifestyle trends from dwelling practices of transnational nomads and regimes of personal training to genetic testing and gambling, interpretations of the dynamics of brand loyalty and corporate image management, and investigation of family consumption rituals are among the topics explored in ethnographic and humanistic perspective.

Consumption and Class

Consumption and Class PDF Author: Roger Burrows
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349217255
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
An edited collection exploring divisions and changes within and between the spheres of consumption and production. Topics include: the relationship between consumption and production; the social construction of consumers; housing and social class mobility; health provision; the role of the 'service class'; and access to higher education. Peter Saunders' work provides the initial stimulus for many of the papers, but all go beyond his narrow conception of a sociology of consumption and his liberal analysis of patterns of social inequality.

Consuming Cultures

Consuming Cultures PDF Author: Jeff Hearn
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312218829
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Book Description
Stressing the variety of ways in which consumption is structured and organised through cultures and showing how these cultural technologies construct the person, the senses and the self, this book stands at the interface of the sociologies of culture and consumption. This book will be of interest to all concerned with the study of culture and consumption, whether from sociological, cultural, political or psychological perspectives.

Consumption and Everyday Life

Consumption and Everyday Life PDF Author: Mark Paterson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134255896
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
Introducing all the key ideas and major theorists of consumption in a lively and engaging manner, this book draws on theories of everyday life and aspects of sociology, cultural geography and cultural studies, and presents a comprehensive exploration of the central themes in consumption and consumer culture. Readily accessible case studies describe familiar forms of consumption from areas of everyday life, grounding the debates and ideas discussed. Key topics covered include: the semiotics of branding and advertising the representation of 'nature' and the environment the relations between consumer and producer ethical consumption the tensions between local spaces of consumption and globalized markets. While each of the chapters crystallize the debate in a specific subject area, they also lie within a larger argument concerning the ethics, the poetics and the politics of consumption in everyday life, making this essential reading for undergraduates on cultural studies, sociology and cultural geography courses.

Culture and Consumption

Culture and Consumption PDF Author: Grant David McCracken
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253206282
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
"This book compiles and integrates highly innovative work aimed at bridging the fields of anthropology and consumer behavior." —Journal of Consumer Affairs " . . . fascinating . . . ambitious and interesting . . . " —Canadian Advertising Foundation Newsletter " . . . an anthropological dig into consumerism brimming with original thought . . . " —The Globe and Mail "Grant McCracken has written a provocative book that puts consumerism in its place in Western society—at the centre." —Report on Business Magazine " . . . a stimulating addition to knowledge and theory about the interrelationship of culture and consumption." —Choice "[McCracken's] synthesis of anthropological and consumer studies material will give historians new ideas and methods to integrate into their thinking." —Maryland Historian "The book offers a fresh and much needed cultural interpretation of consumption." —Journal of Consumer Policy "The volume will help balance the prevailing cognitive and social psychological cast of consumer research and should stimulate more comprehensive investigation into consumer behavior." —Journal of Marketing Research " . . . broad scope, enthusiasm and imagination . . . a significant contribution to the literature on consumption history, consumer behavior, and American material culture." —Winterhur Portfolio "For this is a superb book, a definitive exploration of its subject that makes use of the full range of available literature." —American Journal of Sociology "McCracken's book is a fine synthesis of a new current of thought that strives to create an interdisciplinary social science of consumption behaviors, a current to which folklorists have much to contribute." —Journal of American Folklore This provocative book takes a refreshing new view of the culture of consumption. McCracken examines the interplay of culture and consumer behavior from the anthropologist's point of view and provides new insights into the way we view ourselves and our society.

Consumption and Class

Consumption and Class PDF Author: Roger Burrows
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780333565360
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
An edited collection exploring divisions and changes within and between the spheres of consumption and production. Topics include: the relationship between consumption and production; the social construction of consumers; housing and social class mobility; health provision; the role of the 'service class'; and access to higher education. Peter Saunders' work provides the initial stimulus for many of the papers, but all go beyond his narrow conception of a sociology of consumption and his liberal analysis of patterns of social inequality.

The Sociology of Consumption

The Sociology of Consumption PDF Author: Peter Corrigan
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0857021850
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Book Description
This lucid introduction to the sociology of consumerism examines the relationship between production and consumption in late capitalist societies. The historical and theoretical discussion provides the student with the tools to examine key themes in the sociology of consumption. After a detailed historical overview of the advent of consumer society, Peter Corrigan examines theoretical accounts of consumption and consumer practice, including: Veblen and conspicuous consumption; Mary Douglas on the world of goods; Jean Baudrillard on the system of objects; and Pierre Bourdieu on cultural capital. This historical and theoretical discussion provides the student with the tools to examine key themes in the sociology of consumption.