Has consumer culture got out of hand? Are the costs of universal access and pollution too great to bear?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 consumer culture and examining its origins and consequences within a global context. Adept in handling a complex range of theories, Consumer Society scrupulously uses examples throughout to inform and enhance understanding. Smart writes with verve and feeling and has produced a book that simultaneously covers and enlarges our understanding of consumer culture. Clear, engaging and original, this book will be important reading for all those interested in our global culture of consumption including students of sociology, social geography and cultural studies.

Consequences of Consumerism

Consequences of consumerism

All manner of explanations have been advanced to account for people's seemingly inexhaustible propensity to consume, capacity to spend, spend, and spend again, to work longer hours to earn more, to use credit and run up debt, and willingness to withdraw equity from their homes in order to participate in ‘consumer society’, to fund the purchase of more and more consumer goods and additional services. If pleasure and enjoyment, both anticipated and experienced, are part of the story it is worth remembering that some of the goods selected for purchase are never used and a significant proportion end up being thrown away, including substantial quantities of edible foods, with one estimate from a UK report suggesting avoidable food waste over ...

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