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Consumption clearly plays an important role in the everyday construction of social life. The recent and rapid growth of consumption as an arena of considerable concern to social theorists is testament to that fact. Traditionally consumption has not been a central concern of social theorists. In recent decades this situation has markedly changed to the extent that consumption appears to be one of the fastest expanding areas of theoretical advance and discussion. This trend is of particular interest when you consider the political changes that accompany the social change for which theorists are attempting to account. Indeed, the changes we associate with a consumer society quite clearly have a massive impact on the ‘real’ world. It could indeed be argued ...