[PDF] Radical Consumption Shopping For Change In Contemporary Culture eBook

Author : Jo Littler
Publisher : McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 20,50 MB
Release : 2008-11-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0335236839

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Ethical consumption, fair trade, consumer protests, brand backlashes, green goods, boycotts and downshifting: these are all now familiar consumer activities - and in some cases, are almost mainstream. They are part of the expanding field of 'radical consumption' in a world where we are encouraged to shop for change. But just how radical are these forms of consumption? This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to examining contemporary radical consumption, analyzing its possibilities and problems, moralities, methods of mediation and its connections to wider cultural formations of production and politics. Jo Littler argues that we require a more expansive vocabulary and to open up new approaches of enquiry in order to understand the area's many contradictions, strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on a number of contemporary theories, terms and debates in media and cultural studies, she uses a range of specific case studies to bring theory to life. By analysing practices of radical consumption, the book explores a number of key questions: Is ethical consumption merely a sop for the middle classes? What are the contradictions of green consumption? Should we understand corporate social responsibility as a form of consumer-oriented greenwash? Who benefits from the new forms of cosmopolitan caring consumption? Can such forms of consumption ever move beyond their niche market status to become an effective political force? Can we really buy our way to a better, more equitable or sustainable future? Radical Consumption is important reading for cultural, media and sociology students.

Author : Jo Littler
Publisher : Open University Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 13,95 MB
Release : 2008-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780335221530

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Ethical consumption, fair trade, consumer protests, brand backlashes, green goods, boycotts and downshifting: these are all now familiar consumer activities – and in some cases, are almost mainstream. They are part of the expanding field of 'radical consumption' in a world where we are encouraged to shop for change. But just how radical are these forms of consumption? This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to examining contemporary radical consumption, analyzing its possibilities and problems, moralities, methods of mediation and its connections to wider cultural formations of production and politics. Jo Littler argues that we require a more expansive vocabulary and to open up new approaches of enquiry in order to understand the area's many contradictions, strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on a number of contemporary theories, terms and debates in media and cultural studies, she uses a range of specific case studies to bring theory to life. By analysing practices of radical consumption, the book explores a number of key questions: Is ethical consumption merely a sop for the middle classes? What are the contradictions of green consumption? Should we understand corporate social responsibility as a form of consumer-oriented greenwash? Who benefits from the new forms of cosmopolitan caring consumption? Can such forms of consumption ever move beyond their niche market status to become an effective political force? Can we really buy our way to a better, more equitable or sustainable future? Radical Consumption is important reading for cultural, media and sociology students.

Author : Littler, Jo
Publisher : McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 19,98 MB
Release : 2008-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0335221521

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"This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to examining contemporary radical consumption, analyzing its possibilities and problems, moralities, methods of mediation and its connections to wider cultural formations of production and politics." "Jo Littler argues that we require a more expansive vocabulary and need to open up new approaches of enquiry in order to understand the area's many contradictions, strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on a number of contemporary theories, terms and debates in media and cultural studies, she uses a range of specific case studies to bring theory to life." "Radical Consumption is important reading for cultural, media and sociology students." --Book Jacket.

Author : Louis Hyman
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 479 pages
File Size : 45,50 MB
Release : 2017-06-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1501712624

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Consuming with a conscience is one of the fastest growing forms of political participation worldwide. Every day we make decisions about how to spend our money and, for the socially conscious, these decisions matter. Political consumers "buy green" for the environment or they "buy pink" to combat breast cancer. They boycott Taco Bell to support migrant workers or Burger King to save the rainforest. But can we overcome the limitations of consumer identity, the conservative pull of consumer choice, co-optation by corporate marketers, and other pitfalls of consumer activism in order to marshal the possibilities of consumer power? Can we, quite literally, shop for change? Shopping for Change brings together the historical and contemporary perspectives of academics and activists to show readers what has been possible for consumer activists in the past and what might be possible for today’s consumer activists.

Author : Rob Shields
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 14,38 MB
Release : 2003-09-02
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1134927681

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First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author : Kaela Jubas
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 31,8 MB
Release : 2016-06-16
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1315417480

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An exploration of how people who are concerned about globalization and consumption learn about these issues through their shopping and use that knowledge to change the status quo.

Author : Sam Pocker
Publisher : Running Press Adult
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 49,62 MB
Release : 2009-03-31
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0786746394

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Why does no one blink when they are charged three dollars for a cup of coffee? Why do grown men sleep on the street overnight to buy video game systems? How do Dollar Stores cheerfully charge a dollar for a 25 cent pack of gum? What are the pitfalls of Brand Name Loyalty? And how do you get an entire car-full of pudding for free? "Stand-up economist" Sam Pocker delves into these hard-hitting questions -- and the result is a fascinating, wry, and amusing account of consumers' non-sensical habits and the stores that prey upon them. With a dash of vitriol and a dose of sarcasm, Pocker exposes the sheer inanity of marketing schemes, the plague of rude cashiers, and shows how the "little guy" can rise up and beat the system by outsmarting the stores with their overly-complicated rules for rebates. Retail Anarchy is a satirical look at the self-imposed consumer coma that America has fallen into -- and Sam Pocker's mission is to wake readers up!

Author : Sharon Zukin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 49,17 MB
Release : 2018-10-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1317325362

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This accessible, smart, and expansive book on shopping's impact on American life is in part historical, stretching back to the mid-19th century, yet also has a contemporary focus, with material on recent trends in shopping from the internet to Zagat's guides. Drawing inspiration from both Pierre Bourdieu's work and Walter Benjamin's seminal essay on the shopping arcades of 19th-century Paris, Zukin explores the forces that have made shopping so central to our lives: the rise of consumer culture, the never-ending quest for better value, and shopping's ability to help us improve our social status and attain new social identities.

Author : Sam Binkley
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 16,99 MB
Release : 2014-02-25
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1317984994

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Anti-consumerism has become a conspicuous part of contemporary activism and popular culture, from ‘culture jams’ and actions against Esso and Starbucks, through the downshifting and voluntary simplicity movements, the rise of ethical consumption and organic and the high profile of films and books like Supersize Me! and No Logo. A rising awareness of labor conditions in overseas plants, the environmental impact of intensified consumer lifestyles and the effects of neo-liberal privatization have all stimulated such popular cultural opposition. However, the subject of anti-consumerism has received relatively little theoretical attention – particularly from cultural studies, which is surprising given the discipline’s historical investments in extending radical politics and exploring the complexities of consumer desire. This book considers how the expanding resources of contemporary cultural theory might be drawn upon to understand anti-consumerist identifications and practices; how railing against the social and cultural effects of consumerism has a complex past as well as present; and it pays attention to the interplays between the different movements of anti-consumerism and the particular modes of consumer culture in which they exist. In addition, as well as ‘using’ cultural studies to analyse anti-consumerism, it also asks how such anti-consumerist practices and discourse challenges some of the presumptions and positions currently held in cultural studies. This book was previously published as a special issue of Cultural Studies.

Author : Tania Lewis
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 14,87 MB
Release : 2013-01-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1135282390

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A not-so-quiet revolution seems to be occurring in wealthy capitalist societies - supermarkets selling ‘guilt free’ Fairtrade products; lifestyle TV gurus exhorting us to eat less, buy local and go green; neighbourhood action groups bent on ‘swopping not shopping’. And this is happening not at the margins of society but at its heart, in the shopping centres and homes of ordinary people. Today we are seeing a mainstreaming of ethical concerns around consumption that reflects an increasing anxiety with - and accompanying sense of responsibility for - the risks and excesses of contemporary lifestyles in the ‘global north’. This collection of essays provides a range of critical tools for understanding the turn towards responsible or conscience consumption and, in the process, interrogates the notion that we can shop our way to a more ethical, sustainable future. Written by leading international scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds - and drawing upon examples from across the globe - Ethical Consumption makes a major contribution to the still fledgling field of ethical consumption studies. This collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between consumer culture and contemporary social life.