Consumption Books

New and Published Books

1. Celebrity Society

   By Robert van Krieken

   On television, in magazines and books, on the internet and in films, celebrities of all sorts seem to monopolize our attention. Celebrity Society brings new dimensions to our understanding of celebrity, capturing the way in which the figure of ‘the celebrity’ is bound up with the emergence of...

   Published May 27th 2012 by Routledge
2. Why We Take Drugs

   Seeking Excess and Communion in the Modern World

   By Tom Yardley

   In older cultures, the use of intoxicant drugs was integrated into the rhythms of social existence and bounded by rituals and taboos that ensured their dangerous forces were contained and channelled. In modern western societies, by contrast, the state and the institutions of society have washed...

   Published March 28th 2012 by Routledge
3. The Good Life in a Technological Age

   Edited by Philip Brey, Adam Briggle, Edward Spence

   Series: Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society

   Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes in light of their implications for individual and social welfare. How can we conceptualize and evaluate the influence of technology on human...

   Published March 20th 2012 by Routledge
4. Organizations and Popular Culture

   Information, Representation and Transformation

   Edited by Carl Rhodes, Simon Lilley

   Throughout its history, popular mass-mediated culture has turned its attention to representing and interrogating organizational life. As early as Charlie Chaplin’s cinematic classic Modern Times and as recently as the primetime television hit The Simpsons, we see cultural products that engage...

   Published February 26th 2012 by Routledge
5. Marketing Management

   A Cultural Perspective

   Edited by Lisa Peñaloza, Nil Toulouse, Luca Massimiliano Visconti

   Culture pervades consumption and marketing activity in ways that potentially benefit marketing managers. This book provides a comprehensive account of cultural knowledge and skills useful in strategic marketing management. In making these cultural concepts and frameworks accessible and in...

   Published December 15th 2011 by Routledge
6. A Crisis of Waste?

   Understanding the Rubbish Society

   By Martin O'Brien

   Series: Routledge Advances in Sociology

   This book takes a measured look at the 'crisis of waste' in modern society and it does so historically, sociologically and critically. It tells stories about past and present ‘crises’ of waste and puts them in their appropriate social and industrial contexts. From Charles Dickens to Don...

   Published December 8th 2011 by Routledge
7. Reading Ads Socially

   By Robert Goldman

   This systematic and authoritative book provides an unrivalled guide to understanding ad culture. It shows how the logic of commodities permeates the ways we think about ourselves, our relationships and our desires. Richly illustrated and written with great clarity, it will be essential reading for...

   Published November 9th 2011 by Routledge
8. Alienation and the Carnivalization of Society

   Edited by Jerome Braun, Lauren Langman

   Series: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

   This book examines alienation from both a sociological and psychoanalytic perspective, revisiting classic treatments of the topic (Marx, Simmel, Weber) and exploring its relevance to understanding post-modern consumer society. It examines the escapist potentials for good and for ill in modern...

   Published September 25th 2011 by Routledge
9. Cultural Studies and Anti-Consumerism

   Edited by Sam Binkley, Jo Littler

   Anti-consumerism has become a conspicuous part of contemporary activism and popular culture, from ‘culture jams’ and actions against Esso and Starbucks, through the downshifting and voluntary simplicity movements, the rise of ethical consumption and organic and the high profile of films and books...

   Published July 4th 2011 by Routledge
10. Confronting Climate Change

    By Constance Lever-Tracy

    Series: Shortcuts

    What are the manifest and likely future consequences of climate change? How will the world respond to the challenges of climate change in the twenty-first century? How should people think about confronting the politics of climate change? In this highly accessible introduction to the predicted...

    Published March 29th 2011 by Routledge