Roberta Sassatelli 
Consumer Culture 
History, Theory and Politics

‘A thorough and wide-ranging synthetic account of social scientific research on consumption which will set the standard for the second generation of textbooks on cultures of consumption.’


– Alan Warde, University of Manchester



‘The multi-disciplinary nature of the book provides new and revealing insights, and Sassatelli conveys brilliantly the heterogeneity and ambivalent nature of consumer identities, consumer practices and consumer cultures… Newcomers to consumer culture will find this an invaluable primer and introducton to the major concepts and ideas, while those familiar with the field will find Sassatelli′s sharp analysis and discussion both refreshing and inspiring.’


– James Skinner, Journal of Sociology



‘This is a model of what a text book ought to be. Over the past decade the original debates about consumption have been overlaid by a vast amount of detailed research, and it seems unimaginable that a single text couuld do justice to all of these. To do so would involve as much a commitment to depth as to breadth. I was quite astonished at how well Sassatelli succeeds in balancing the two… Ultimately, it′s the book that I would trust to help people digest what we now have discovered about consumption and start from a much more mature and reflective foundation to consider what more we might yet do.’


– Daniel Miller, Material World

Showing the cultural and institutional processes that have brought the notion of the ′consumer′ to life, this book guides the reader on a comprehensive journey through the history of how we have come to understand ourselves as consumers in a consumer society and reveals the profound ambiguities and ambivalences inherent within. While rooted in sociology, Sassatelli draws on the traditions of history, anthropology, geography and economics to provide:

• a history of the rise of consumer culture around the world


• a richly illustrated analysis of theory from neo-classical economics, to critical theory, to theories of practice and ritual de-commoditization


• a compelling discussion of the politics underlying our consumption practices.

An exemplary introduction to the history and theory of consumer culture, this book provides nuanced answers to some of the most central questions of our time.

قائمة المحتويات

THE RISE OF CONSUMER CULTURE

Chapter 1: Capitalism and the Consumer Revolution

Consumption, Production and Exchange

The Genesis of Consumer Capitalism

From Courts to Cities, from Luxuries to Fashion

Chapter 2: The Cultural Production of Economic Value

Commodity Flows, Knowledge Flows

The Invention of the Consumer and the cultural trajectories of good

Consumer Society as Historical Type

THEORIES OF CONSUMER AGENCY

Chapter 3: Utility and Social Competition

The Sovereign Consumer

The Limits of Economic Rationality

Fashion, Style and Conspicuous Consumption

Beyond Emulation

Chapter 4: Needs, Manipulation and Simulation

From Commodity Fetishism to Critical Theory

Nature, Authenticity and Resistance

Post-Modern Pessimism

Social Relations and Consumption

Chapter 5: Taste, Identity and Practices

Taste and Distinction

Cultural Classification and Identity

Appropriating Commodities

Ambivalence and Practice

THE POLITICS OF CONSUMPTION

Chapter 6: Representation and Consumerism

The Anti-Consumerist Rhetoric and the Apology of Consumption

Advertising Cultures and their Languages

The Functions and Meanings of Ads

Ideology, Social Differences and Consumerism

Chapter 7: Commodities and Consumers

Commoditization and De-commoditization

Goods, Values and the Boundaries of Commoditization

The Normalization of Consumption

Chapter 8: Contexts of Consumption

Leisure, Commercial Institutions and Public Places

The Home, the Commercialization of Feelings and Cultural Consumption

Local Consumption in Mcdonaldized settings

Alternative Consumption and Social Movements