Elusive Consumption

In the context of rising consumerism and globalization, books on consumption are numerous. These tend to be firmly rooted in particular disciplines, however--sociology, anthropology, business or cultural studies--and as a result often present a limited view. Charged with the mission of unraveling what consumption means and how it operates, the world's leading experts were flown to a private location in Sweden to "battle it out." This pioneering book represents the outcome. Ranging from the "little black dress" to children's computer games, Elusive Consumption challenges our very understanding of consumerism and provides a state-of-the-art view of the highly commercialized society we inhabit today. Some might have it that consumers are unwitting pawns, completely lacking in agency. Others might argue that consumer choices are empowering and subtly shape production. Richard Wilk, Colin Campbell, John F. Sherry, Richard Elliott, Russell Belk, and Daniel Miller--who offers the most persuasive argument in this battle royal?

Notes on Contributors, Introduction, 1. Morals and Metaphors: The Meaning of Consumption, 2. I Shop therefore I Know that I Am: The Metaphysical Basis of Modern Consumerism, 3. Culture, Consumption and Marketing: Retrospect and Prospect, 4. The Human Consequences of Consumer Culture, 5. Multiculturalism in the New World Order: Implications for the Study of Consumer Behaviour, 6. The Little Black Dress is the Solution, but what is the Problem?, 7. Making Up People: Consumption as a Symbolic Vocabulary for the Construction of Identity, 8. Gender, Technologies and Computer-mediated Communications in Consumption-related Online Communities, 9. Dreams of Eden: A Critical Reader-Response Analysis of the Mytho-Ideologies Encoded in Natural Health Advertisements, 10. Is the Modern Consumer a Buridan's Donkey? Product Packaging and Consumer Choice, 11. Visual Consumption in the Image Economy