Consumer Society
Critical Issues & Environmental Consequences
- Barry Smart - University of Portsmouth, UK
Ever-increasing consumption and a relentless pursuit of growth in output are the twin pillars on which the modern economy and contemporary social life rest. But the consumer way of life is globally unsustainable. We can't all live the consumer dream.
This comprehensive, lively and informative book will quickly be recognized as a benchmark in the field. It brings together a huge set of resources for thinking about the development of consumer culture, its defining features, and global consequences.
Adept in handling a complex range of classical and contemporary theoretical sources, the book draws on an impressive range of comparative material and provides a variety of contemporary examples to inform and enhance understanding of our consuming way of life. Smart writes with verve and feeling and has produced a stimulating book that enlarges our understanding of consumer culture and provides a timely critical analysis of its consequences.
Clear, engaging, and original this book will be essential reading for all those interested in and concerned about our global culture of consumption including researchers and students in sociology, politics, cultural studies, economics, and social geography.
The cultural contradictions of modern capitalism have never been deeper or more dramatic. These contradictions are also confusing. While governments tell citizens to spend in order to save capitalism, economists tell us that western consumers spend too much and Chinese workers, too little. Barry Smart's engaging contribution offers clear insights into the economic mysteries of modern consumption and production, providing in tandem an historical sociology of the rise of America as a consumer society - this is a timely sociological guide to the perplexed
Bryan S. Turner
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Barry Smart's Consumer society is the best study I have seen of contemporary features of the current stage of capitalism organized around consumption and commodities. The book's range is broad and synoptic and its research is highly impressive. The text is engaging and accessible and should be of interest to a wide range of readers
Douglas Kellner
UCLA, author of Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy
Very good resource for beginners and advanced students alike. Definitely an essential resource for my future courses in this field of studies.
This is an excellent book and useful supplementary resource, and may be ordered in Fall 2016 as such, but a geography text on consumption is preferable. So I am waiting on the Mansvelt and Jayne text. The 2005 Mansvelt text was not quite suitable for Fall 2014.
Great text to compliment diverse reading list. Unique perspective with good theoretical underpinning. Accessible for students and pitched at the right level. Good text.
Excellent resource for understanding consumer society. However has little in terms of focus to the health and social care discipline. I have recommended this for dissertation students that wish to discuss elements of consumer society.
A well ordered, clearly written and accessible text that will give my undergraduate students a good introduction to the relationship between consumption norms and environmental stress, and the socio-economic impact of a global market place.
I really liked this book. It covers some interesting aspects related to consumption, advertising, and markets, but it was more about environmental issues and less about issues of inequality, which made it a poor fit for my course on social stratification.
Broad ranging and insightful. Clearly presented with a wide range of comparative material.
An excellent and interesting book but not directly relevant to the programme that we run. However, I would recommend it to those students who choose to focus on the environmental/sustainability issues within outdoor education.
