Summary
Contents
Subject index
The central question in Work, Consumption and Culture is whether consumption has now displaced production as the defining factor in the lives of those in the industrialized West. This book offers a comprehensive review of the key issues in the production/consumption debate, and where it might lead in the future. Key to Paul Ransome’s argument is the hypothesis that affluence is the crucial factor in the shift away from work and towards consumption. Uniquely emphasizing the links between work, consumption and culture, rather than keeping each element separate, the author looks at:- the changing significance of work in society - the meaning, growth and significance of affluence - the growing importance of consumption as a source of identity and its implications the impact of the shift to consumption on work/life balance Work, Consumption and Culture engages the reader with its lively debating style. It is an essential introduction for sociology and cultural studies students on courses relating to consumption and the role of work in contemporary society.`This book offers a balanced account of the changing importance of work and consumption in contemporary industrial society. Clearly written, the author identifies the central role that affluence plays in the relationship between work and consumption, and in the development of social life and individual identity' - Professor Paul Blyton, Cardiff Business School
Identity Crisis – Workers versus Consumers
Identity Crisis – Workers versus Consumers
Paid Occupational Roles, Unpaid Occupational Roles and Identity
In the previous chapter we looked at how identity is affected by the different kinds of activities which take place in the realms of work and of consumption, and at how these realms promote different kinds of class-or status-group-based expectations and activities. These experiences provide an important context within which people develop the mutual or collective dimensions of their identity. The issue we are considering in this chapter is that if people are becoming less dependent upon occupational role, and more reliant upon consumption-type behaviour, as a means of understanding and expressing who they are, how they should behave and where they fit into society, then what ...
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