Overview

`This book was radically challenging when it was first published, and is only more so today as the concept of consumer collapses under the weight of its many meanings′ - Madeleine Bunting, Columnist, The Guardian Western-style consumerism appears unstoppable. Yet it is has failed to deliver greater happiness and is now facing major environmental, population and political challenges. This book examines the key Western traditions of thinking about and being a consumer. Each chapter posits a consumer model with examples from the international community. Readers are invited to enter an exciting and radical analysis of contemporary consumerism which suggests that consumerism is fragile and consumers unpredictable. Updated with new material, this Second Edition looks at the impact of new technologies on consumerism and the consolidation of consumerism and ′consumer′ language in spheres like education and health. The authors discuss the spread of consumerism to developing countries like India and the effect of demographic change and migration. The fallout from 9/11 and United States military hegemony is examined, as is the influence on consumerism of Islamic fundamentalism, the anti-globalization movement, environmental concerns and depleting natural resources. This book is of interest to advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students taking courses on behaviour, buyer behaviour, customer behaviour, consumers and society and retailing. Any one interested in better understanding consumerism will also find this book a fascinating read.

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9781412918930

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Yiannis Gabriel is Professor of Organizational Theory at Bath University. Yiannis has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.   Yiannis is well known for his work into organizational storytelling and narratives, leadership, management learning and the culture and politics of contemporary consumption. He has used stories as a way of studying numerous social and organizational phenomena including leader-follower relations, group dynamics and fantasies, nostalgia, insults and apologies. He has also carried out extensive research on the psychoanalysis of organizations.   Yiannis is founder and coordinator of the Organizational Storytelling Seminar series, now in its fourteenth year (See http://www.organizational-storytelling.org.uk/), the author of nine books and numerous articles. He is elected to the board of EGOS and is currently Senior Editor of Organization Studies. His enduring fascination as a researcher lies in what he describes as the unmanageable qualities of life in and out of organizations. Tim Lang has been Professor of Food Policy at City University′s Centre for Food Policy since 2002. With a PhD in Social Psychology from Leeds University he became a hill farmer in Lancashire, North of England, in the 1970s. Over the last four decades he has engaged in public and academic research and debate about food policy: what sort of food system do we want? What do we mean by progress? He has written and co-written 10 books and many reports and papers on the trends, problems and policy frameworks in the food system. A constant theme is how public health, environment, social justice and consumer rights do and don’t connect. Besides his academic work, he has been an advisor to many bodies including the World Health Organisation, the EU Environment Commissioner, the Mayor of London and many civil society organisations. He was the UK Government’s Sustainable Development Commissioner for food and land use in 2006-11. All this enquiry and engagement spawned and retains his keen interest in the issues analysed in The Unmanageable Consumer. 

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