Overview

The aim of this collection is to explore the implications of 'consumer society' charting out its specific meanings in particular contexts and debating the potential merits or otherwise of this way of understanding and constructing relations between 'providers' and 'recipients'. In particular, some have seen this development as involving a radical shift of authority - away from the provider/producer, towards the recipient/consumer - in judging the value and meaning of the activities concerned, or in the character of the social relations involved in them. But they have differed in their responses to this shift, either welcoming it in terms of democratization, anti-elitism, or empowerment, or decrying it as commercialization, populism, loss of integrity, and the like. Others have been more sceptical. These are the issues explored in this important and wide-ranging book. The authors have drawn from several disciplines in the social sciences and humanities and include several non-academics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nicholas Abercrombie ,  Russell, Whiteley Keat ,  Nigel Whiteley
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9780415089197

ISBN 10:   0415089190
Pages:   294
Publication Date:   16 December 1993
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part One Social change and consumption 1 Scepticism, authority and the market 2 Authority and consumer society 3 Consumers, identity and belonging: reflections on some theses of Zygmunt Bauman 4 The organized consumer and consumer information co-operatives 5 Advertising: moving beyond the stereotypes 6 The limits of consumption and the post-modern ‘religion’ of the New Age Part Two Consuming culture 7 High art and the high street: the ‘commerce-and-culture’ Debate 8 Planning a culture for the people? 9 The culture of consumption: design museums as educators or tastemakers? 10 Framing the audience for theatre Part Three Consuming public services 11 Citizens, charters and contracts 12 Consuming health and welfare 13 Consuming education 14 Retailing the police: corporate identity and the Met. 15 Conversationalization of public discourse and the authority of the consumer

Reviews

"""The distinctive perspective of this collection is in linking the emphasis on consumerism in contemporary public discourse with our theorizations of power, or more precisely authority, in late-modern Britain...One of the great pleasures of this book is that the authors are clearly working seriously at the extent to which we have to re-think established prejudices.."""

The distinctive perspective of this collection is in linking the emphasis on consumerism in contemporary public discourse with our theorizations of power, or more precisely authority, in late-modern Britain...One of the great pleasures of this book is that the authors are clearly working seriously at the extent to which we have to re-think established prejudices.. <br>

Author Information

Russell Keat is Reader in Philosophy, Nigel Whiteley is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Visual Arts and Nicholas Abercrombie is Professor of Sociology—all at the University of Lancaster.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions