The Consumer Society: Volume 2

This book is basically a massive collection of indepth summaries (usually about 2-4 pages long) of the points made by major papers in the fields of sociology and economics (mainly somewhat "liberal" works). Frequently essays and papers include a lot of information that is simply filler or is unnecessary explaination of already established concepts. This book eliminates that but leaves all the main points and main support of those points intact. This book summarizes just short of 100 essays and divides them into 10 parts: Scope and Definition; Consumption in the Affluent Society; Family, Gender, and Socialization; the History of Consumer Society; Foundations of Economic Theories of Consumption; Critques and Alernatives in Economic Theory; Perpetuating Consumer Culture: Media, Advertising and Wants Creation; Consumption and the Environment; Globalization and Consumer Culture; and Visions of an Alternative.Some of the summaries are of essays from writers such as: Juliet Schor, Alan Durning, John Kenneth Galbraith (Forward also written by him), Colin Campbell, Frank Ackerman, and (of course) many others.There are name and subject indexes in the back and a table of contents in the front, so it is very easy to find a particular essay's summary or just find summaries of essays on the subjects/by the authors you are interested in. In addition, each summary begins with a formal citation of the essay being summarized. This is a great way of finding good articles on various subjects!I highly recommend this book as a tool for finding good essays, as a reference book on various economics and sociology subjects, or as an introductory book to major sociology and economic theories.

The "Frontier Issues in Economic Thought" summaries, along with the overview essays, provide a markedly different service from the standard collection of abstracts. The series will benefit not only scholarly work but the application of our best thinking to the problems of the times. -- Kenneth Prewitt President, Social Sciences Research Council

THE CONSUMER SOCIETY is an exceptionally timely and incisive work. Much of the current national dialogue on environmental politics is disabled by the notion that our citizens harbor two incompatible drives: more material goods and a healthy environment. Underlying that common wisdom is the neoclassical conception of human motivation that has become so widely rooted in the media. This book provides an important sociological and historical critique of the highly abstract neoclassical view.The presentation of the material, with clear and comprehensive essays for each section, and brief summaries for each of the outside authors, make this book exceptionally accessible. It should be widely used by political and environmental scholars and in college classrooms as well.

THE CONSUMER SOCIETY is an exceptionally timely and incisive work. Much of the current national dialogue on environmental politics is disabled by the notion that our citizens harbor two incompatible drives: more material goods and a healthy environment. Underlying that common wisdom is the neoclassical conception of human motivation that has become so widely rooted in the media. This book provides an mportant sociological and historical critique of the highly abstract neoclassical view.The presentation of the material, with clear and comprehensive essays for each section, and brief summaries for each of the outside authors, make this book exceptionally accessible. It should be widely used by political and environmental scholars and in college classrooms as well.