Lived Experiences of Public Consumption - (Consumption and Public Life) by D Cook (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This collection of original ethnographically based research from five continents, provides insights into the dynamics of stability and change in our globalizing world. The chapters comprising Live Experiences of Public Consumption give a vivid account of how cultural and economic value intertwine at face-to-face encounters in marketplaces.

Review Quotes

'Shattering the image of an impersonal market governed by the intersection of price and quality, Dan Cook and his talented collaborators demonstrate that shopping and buying involve rich social experience all the way down. What's more, they uncover that richness in distinctive places across most of the world.' - Viviana A. Zelizer, Lloyd Cotsen '50 Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, USA, and author of The Purchase of Intimacy

'This book is one of most encouraging signs that a rich, productive and fully integrated approach to economic life is finally in the making. Avoiding the dead-ends of both culturalism and economism, and with a seriously internationalist perspective, the contributors have genuinely fulfilled their promise to treat market, shopping and consumption practices as 'lived experiences'.

- Don Slater, Reader in Sociology, London School of Economics, UK, and author of Consumer Culture and Modernity

'One of the most important concepts to draw from this book is that the rational actor still exists, but rationality is not all in operation, and detail with which that concept is illustrated makes this an engaging read for those interested in consumption and its construction.' - Ryan Denniston, Accounts - ASA Economics Sociology Section Newsletter

About the Author

JONATHAN SHAPIRO ANJARIA is in the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA ANETTE BALDAUF works at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria KEITH BROWN is in the Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, USA WINNIFRED BROWN-GLAUDE is a Research Analyst at the Institute for Women's Leadership, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA YULING CHEN serves as a faculty member at National Taiwan College of Physical Education, Taiwan JENNY HUBERMAN is Assistant Professor, University of Missouri, Kansas City, USA KIM HUMPHERY is Associate Professor of History and Social Theory, School of Global Studies, Social Science & Planning at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia JAN PHILLIPS is a community and educational activist in Maine and holds a faculty appointment in Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Southern Maine/Lewiston-Auburn College, USA GIOVANNI SEMI is Assistant Professor in Sociology of Culture, Department of Social and Political Studies, University of Milan, Italy JOEL STILLERMAN is Associate Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of Latin American Studies, Grand Valley State University, USA FREDERICK WHERRY is an Assistant Professor, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA