Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption

Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption
Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2001-06-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761971207

In this book, one of the leading social theorists and cultural commentators of modern times, turns his gaze on consumption. George Ritzer, author of the famous McDonaldization Thesis, demonstrates the irrational consequences of the rational desire to consume and commodify. He examines how McDonaldization might be resisted, and situates the reader in the new cultural spaces that are emerging in society: shopping malls, casino hotels, Disneyfied theme parks and Las Vegas -- the new `cathedrals of consumption' as he calls them. The book shows how new processes of consumption relate to globalization theory. In illuminating discussions of the work of Thorstein Veblen and the French situationists, Ritzer unearths the roots of problems of consumption in older sociological traditions. He indicates how transgression is bound up with consumption, through an investigation of the obscene in popular and postmodern culture.

Consumer Culture and Society

Consumer Culture and Society
Author: Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2016-07-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 148335816X

Consumer Culture and Society offers an introduction to the study of consumerism and consumption from a sociological perspective. Author Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy examines what we buy, how and where we consume, the meanings attached to the things we purchase, and the social forces that enable and constrain consumer behavior. Opening chapters provide a theoretical overview and history of consumer society and featured case studies look at mass consumption in familiar contexts, such as tourism, food, and higher education. The book explores ethical and political concerns, including consumer activism, indebtedness, alternative forms of consumption, and dilemmas surrounding the globalization of consumer culture.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology
Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 695
Release: 2016-09-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1119250633

Featuring a collection of original chapters by leading and emerging scholars, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology presents a comprehensive and balanced overview of the major topics and emerging trends in the discipline of sociology today. Features original chapters contributed by an international cast of leading and emerging sociology scholars Represents the most innovative and 'state-of-the-art' thinking about the discipline Includes a general introduction and section introductions with chapters summaries by the editor

The Sociology of Consumption

The Sociology of Consumption
Author: Joel Stillerman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2015-08-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0745696910

The Sociology of Consumption: A Global Approach offers college students, scholars, and interested readers a state-of-the-art overview of consumption the desire for, purchase, use, display, exchange, and disposal of goods and services. The book’s global focus, emphasis on social inequality, and analysis of consumer citizenship offer a timely, exciting, and original approach to the topic. Looking beyond the U.S. and Europe, Stillerman engages examples from his and others’ research in Chile and other Latin American countries, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and East and South Asia to explore the interaction between global and local forces in consumption. The text explores the lived experience of being a consumer, demonstrating how social inequalities based on class, gender, sexuality, race, and age shape consumer practices and identities. Finally, the book uncovers the important role consumption has played in fueling local and international activism. This welcome new book will be ideal for classes on consumer culture across the social sciences, humanities, and marketing.

Consumption and Class

Consumption and Class
Author: Roger Burrows
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-07-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1349217255

An edited collection exploring divisions and changes within and between the spheres of consumption and production. Topics include: the relationship between consumption and production; the social construction of consumers; housing and social class mobility; health provision; the role of the 'service class'; and access to higher education. Peter Saunders' work provides the initial stimulus for many of the papers, but all go beyond his narrow conception of a sociology of consumption and his liberal analysis of patterns of social inequality.

Consuming Cultures

Consuming Cultures
Author: Jeff Hearn
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 286
Release: 1999-04-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780333747162

Stressing the variety of ways in which consumption is structured and organised through cultures and showing how these cultural technologies construct the person, the senses and the self, this book stands at the interface of the sociologies of culture and consumption. Arranged in two sections: Homes and Households, Places and Spaces; and Technologies of Consumption and Waste, the book includes chapters on youth consumption, cultures of the household, pornography, and waste and rubbish. This will be of interest to all those concerned with the study of culture and consumption whether from sociological, cultural or psychological perspectives.

Self, Social Structure, and Beliefs

Self, Social Structure, and Beliefs
Author: Jeffrey C. Alexander
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2004-09-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520241374

This is an exploration of the creative work done by leading sociologists who were inspired by the scholarship of Neil Smelser.

The McDonaldization Thesis

The McDonaldization Thesis
Author: George Ritzer
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1998-02-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761955405

In this major new book, the author of the bestselling McDonaldization of Society provides an exploration of one of the most innovative and imaginative sociological theses of the last decade of the twentieth century - `McDonaldization'. Part One centres on a discussion of Karl Mannheim's theory of rationalization. The author also assesses the degree to which sociology in general and sociological theory in particular have been `McDonaldized'. The second part demonstrates the empirical reach of the `McDonaldization' process with discussions on work, credit and globalization. Part Three moves beyond `McDonaldization' to the worlds of `new means of consumption' and the postmodern perspectives that best illuminate them. The author

The Sociology of Consumption

The Sociology of Consumption
Author: Peter Corrigan
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1997-09-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761950110

This lucid introduction to the sociology of consumerism examines the relationship between production and consumption in late capitalist societies. The historical and theoretical discussion provides the student with the tools to examine key themes in the sociology of consumption. After a detailed historical overview of the advent of consumer society, Peter Corrigan examines theoretical accounts of consumption and consumer practice, including: Veblen and conspicuous consumption; Mary Douglas on the world of goods; Jean Baudrillard on the system of objects; and Pierre Bourdieu on cultural capital. This historical and theoretical discussion provides the student with the tools to examine key themes in the socio

The Oxford Handbook of Consumption

The Oxford Handbook of Consumption
Author: Dr. Frederick F. Wherry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 646
Release: 2019-09-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0190695617

The Oxford Handbook of Consumption consolidates the most innovative recent work conducted by social scientists in the field of consumption studies and identifies some of the most fruitful lines of inquiry for future research. It begins by embedding marketing in its global history, enmeshed in various political, economic, and social sites. From this embedded perspective, the book branches out to examine the rise of consumer culture theory among consumer researchers and parallel innovative developments in sociology and anthropology, with scholarship analyzing the roles that identity, social networks, organizational dynamics, institutions, market devices, materiality, and cultural meanings play across a wide variety of applications, including, but not limited to, brands and branding, the sharing economy, tastes and preferences, credit and credit scoring, consumer surveillance, race and ethnicity, status, family life, well-being, environmental sustainability, social movements, and social inequality. The volume is unique in the attention it gives to consumer research on inequality and the focus it has on consumer credit scores and consumer behaviors that shape life chances. The volume includes essays by many of the key researchers in the field, some of whom have only recently, if at all, crossed the disciplinary lines that this volume has enabled. The contributors have tried to address several key questions: What motivates consumption and what does it mean to be a consumer? What social, technical, and cultural systems integrate and give character to contemporary consumption? What actors, institutions, and understandings organize and govern consumption? And what are the social uses and effects of consumption?