Consumption

by Aldridge, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780745625300
• ISBN10: 0745625304
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-19
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

This book provides a clear and concise introduction to the concept of consumption and to the wide-ranging debates about the nature and consequences of consumer society.Community and social class appear to be in irreversible decline. Job insecurity has grown, and fewer people see work as giving meaning to their lives. Instead they turn to consumption for social standing, a sense of identity, and personal fulfilment. We appear to be living through a profound transition from a society based on production to a new social order, the consumer society, from which there is little chance of escape.The book analyses the relationship between the rise of consumerism and the transformation of the world of work, including the new demands for 'emotional labour'. It concludes by examining the limitations of consumer organizations and consumer protection in a promotional culture dominated by global brands and saturated with advertising, corporate sponsorship and product placement.This lively book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociology and cultural studies.

Author Biography

Alan Aldridge is Reader in the Sociology of Culture at the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Consumption as a Key Concept	1	(27)
Stereotypes of the consumer	9	(6)
A classification of images of the consumer	15	(8)
Three reasons to take consumption seriously	23	(3)
Consumption as a hidden key	26	(2)
Production and Consumption	28	(25)
From production to consumption?	28	(4)
A cultural contradiction between production and consumption?	32	(2)
The Fordist era: the rise of mass consumption	34	(5)
The collapse of Fordism	39	(4)
The end of career	43	(3)
The corporate embrace: narcissism and emotional labour	46	(5)
The discourse of service and the quest for authenticity	51	(2)
Consumer Society: Utopia or Dystopia?	53	(33)
A utopia for consumers: free market capitalism	55	(9)
Conspicuous consumption	64	(3)
Individualism, consumerism and the decline of community	67	(8)
The culture of narcissism	75	(3)
Commodity fetishism	78	(3)
Mass society, mass culture?	81	(5)
Living in Consumer Society	86	(24)
Pierre Bourdieu: manoeuvres in the field of consumption	86	(3)
Semiotic democracy: competent subversion	89	(1)
The cultural omnivore: escape through embrace?	90	(2)
Citizenship and the anti-consumer: escape through virtue?	92	(1)
The flaneur: escape through artistry?	93	(6)
Escape from what and to where?	99	(2)
Social exclusion from consumer society	101	(4)
Consumption and new forms of community	105	(5)
McDonaldization and Disneyization	110	(22)
McDonaldization: life in the iron cage	110	(8)
Disneyization: entering the Magic Kingdom	118	(2)
McDonaldization and Disneyization compared	120	(9)
Globalization and cross-cultural consumption	129	(3)
Consumer Activism	132	(24)
The scope of consumer rights	132	(3)
Laissez-faire: the market as guarantor of consumer rights	135	(2)
The state as upholder of consumer rights	137	(2)
Consumer organizations and value for money	139	(6)
Beyond value for money: confronting consumers with producers	145	(3)
Consumer activism in the age of promotional culture	148	(6)
The significance of consumer activism	154	(2)
References	156	(10)
Index	166