Description
Book SynopsisBrings together major theoretical approaches to consumption and synthesizes them to focus on consumer subjectivity, different meanings of consumption and the relationship between consumption and identity
Trade Review"Identifying Consumption is a bold and provocative treatment of many interlocking issues, which in their integration represent a study that is novel and much needed. More than a concise overview of critical theories of consumption, Dunn's smoothly written study also provides a sharp sense of the historical concern for consumption by tracing its emergence over the 20th century and its present culmination in the burgeoning interest in consumption studies today." Jon Cruz, University of California at Santa Barbara, and author of Culture on the Margins "Dunn offers no either/or choices as to the roots of modern consumption; instead, he expertly constructs a careful lineage of the transition of the commodity object to one of insatiable consumer desire." Southwestern Journal of Cultures "Concisely and clearly, Dunn weaves together insights from sociology, psychology, and economics to analyze the 'systematic commodification of need and want.' His excellent examination of historical theorizing about consumption will in itself be useful in university classrooms... Highly recommended." -Choice, March 2009
Table of ContentsPart One: Commodities, Objects, the SubjectI The Triumph of the Commodity: Theoretical Lineages; II Culturalizing Consumption; III The Subjectivity of ConsumptionPart Two: Lifestyle, Status, Identity IV The Social Relations of Consumption; V The Identity of Consumption; Conclusion: Reconsidering Consumption and Identity
