This book uses the work of Jurgen Habermas to interrogate leisure as a meaningful, theoretical concept. Drawing on examples from sport, culture and tourism, and going beyond concerns about the grand project of leisure, Spracklen argues that leisure is central to understanding wider debates about identity, postmodernity and globalization.

In this fascinating study, Boden considers the changing social and cultural significance of the wedding in Britain. The book focuses upon a number of issues including the commercialization of the event, the dynamics of heterosexual partnerships, and the influence of romance. The new commercial wedding is further explored in relation to broader socio-structural transformations and the modernization of marriage law. This book draws upon the experiences of marrying couples as well as media evidence.

This title provides an accessible introduction to psychoanalytic explanations of consumer desire. Topics are drawn widely to reflect the scope of Freud's vision and include dreams, sexuality and hysteria. Discussion is widened to selectively include authors such as Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan, and to include evaluation of current research.

Consumption affects every aspect of the contemporary world, from the most intimate moments of everyday life to the great geopolitical struggles that have been set in train by the forces of globalization. Consumer culture has recast the world in its own image, and we are only just beginning to make sense of the enormous social, political, economic, moral, and environmental implications. This reader offers an essential selection of the best work on the Consumer Society.
Students will appreciate The Consumption Reader for its scope, clarity and ease of use. The material is arranged so that it will develop the student's knowledge through a logical progression, but it may also be read selectively so that the student can rapidly get to grips with key issues, ideas, and authors.

The study of consumption has never seriously examined the role of leisure. This ambitious, agenda-setting study, provides the most in-depth examination of the relationship between the two to date, drawing on the serious leisure perspective and outlining a new conceptual framework for analyzing consumption for leisure.

This book set is a valuable new collection of resources for the academic consumer researcher'...'I recommend that academic libraries purchase this collection.' - ACR News, Mark Tadajewski

Ranging from the classic discussions of a century and more ago, to evidence for the diversity of consumption at the beginning of the 21st century, this set is a foundation for a rapidly growing area of contemporary academic study. The volumes reflect a major transformation in consumption studies. Gone are the simple debates as to whether consumption is in general a good or bad thing, and equally simple technical definitions. Instead these volumes demonstrate the maturity of its subject: that consumption is a foundation to most people's lives in most parts of the world. The contents are inter-disciplinary with approaches ranging from anthropology and media studies, to geography and business studies. Each discipline provides its own theories, perspectives and methodologies for studying this topic. These volumes are also concerned to make use of the rapid increase in studies of actual consumption across the globe so that many of the examples come from areas such as China, Japan, India and South America and break free of what had previously been debates almost exclusively concerned with Europe and the United States.

An edited collection exploring divisions and changes within and between the spheres of consumption and production. Topics include: the relationship between consumption and production; the social construction of consumers; housing and social class mobility; health provision; the role of the 'service class'; and access to higher education. Peter Saunders' work provides the initial stimulus for many of the papers, but all go beyond his narrow conception of a sociology of consumption and his liberal analysis of patterns of social inequality.

Containing original and previously unpublished theoretical and empirical studies, Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism will give professionals, professors, and researchers in the field up-to-date insight and information on trends, happenings, and findings in the international hospitality business arena. A great resource for educators, this book is complete with learning objectives, concept definitions, and even review questions at the end of each chapter. From this book, readers will understand and learn the needs and preferences of tourists and how to investigate the process of destination and product selection to help provide customers with products and services that will best meet their needs.In today's highly competitive business environment, understanding travel behavior is imperative to success. Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism brings together several studies in one volume, representing the first attempt to explore, define, analyze, and evaluate the consumption of tourist and travel products. This guide offers essential research strategies and methods that enables readers to determine the wants and needs of tourists, including: discussing and evaluating the main factors that affect consumer behavior in travel and tourism, such as travel motivation, destination choice, and the consequent travel behavior exploring the various decision-making processes of consumers that leads to consequent destination choices through case study analysis and marketing suggestions determining customer expectations of products through a variety of research techniques in order to find ways of improving satisfaction examining selected research tools, such as product positioning and repositioning and using perceptual maps, to evaluate the market implications of using qualitative and/or quantitative research techniques detecting and analyzing the relative roles individual, environmental, socioeconomic, and demographic factors play in choosing travel destinationsFull of detailed charts and graphs, Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism illustrates key points to give you a better understanding of important facts and findings in the field.

Despite the increasing occurrence of consumer boycotts, little has been written about this form of social and economic protest. This timely volume fills the knowledge gap by examining boycotts both historically and currently. Drawing on both published and unpublished material as well as personal interviews with boycott groups and their targets, Monroe Friedman discusses different types of boycotts-from their historical focus on labor and economic concerns to the more recent inclusion of issues such as minority rights, animal welfare, and environmental protection. He also documents the shift in strategic emphasis from the marketplace (cutting consumer sales) to the media (securing news coverage to air criticism of a targeted firm). In turn, these changes in boycott substance and style offer insights into larger upheavals in the social and economic fabric of 20th century America.

What does consumption in the global south signify, and how are its complexities communicated in media discourses? This book looks at the media representation of consumer culture in Africa, China, Brazil and India through case studies ranging from celebrity selfies, to travel websites, news reports and documentary film.

Welcome or not, most citizens in Western countries are unable to go through a day without receiving a dose of health information. This book examines the ways in which ordinary people locate and digest the amount of health information available today, focusing on the unexplored 'middle' place of human and technical mediators.

This book coaches marketing practitioners and students how to best satisfy the needs of the older consumer population. It first highlights the heterogeneity of the older consumer market, then examines the specific needs of the older consumer. Lastly, the book highlights the most effective ways of reaching and serving older consumer segments for different products and services such as financial services, food and beverages, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and travel among others. It presents segment-to-industry specific strategies that help marketers develop more refined and targeted micro-marketing strategies and customer relationship management (CRM) systems for building and retaining a large base of older customers. These strategies also help demonstrate how companies can make decisions that increase profitability not only by satisfying consumer needs and wants, but also by creating positive change and improvement in consumer well-being.

Full Contributors:
Monika Bernold, University of Vienna, Andrea Ellmeier, University of Vienna, Mica Nava, University of East London, Andrew Blake, University of East London, Colin Campbell, University of York, Joanne Entwhistle, University of North London, Pasi Falk, University of Helsinki, Robert Goldman, Lewis Clarke College, Steven Kline, Simon Fraser University, Reina Lewis, University of East London, Katrina Rolley, University of East London, Celia Lury, University of Lancaster, Alan Warde, University of Lancaster, Frank Mort, Portsmouth University, Iain MacRury, University of East London, Sean Nixon, University of Essex, Stephanie O'Donohue, Edinburgh University, Kim Christian Schoder, University of Roskigde, Denmark, Rob Shields, Carleton University, Andrew Wernick, Trent University, Ontario

Building brands through integrated marketing is an approach being used by all top-level marketing strategists. The result of a series of papers presented at the eleventh annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference held in Chicago, this volume brings together researchers and professionals whose efforts focus on integrating the various persuasive tools of marketing. It goes beyond case studies of the use of integrated marketing to look at how integrated communication actually works on achieving optimal effects on the various audiences for products.

Theoretical research on advertising effects at the individual level has focused almost entirely on the effects of advertising exposure on attitudes and the mediators of attitude formation and change. This focus implicitly assumes attitudes are a good predictor of behavior, which they generally are not, and downplays the role of memory, in that, there is generally a considerable amount of time between advertising exposure and purchase decisions in most marketing situations. Recently, a number of researchers have developed conceptual models which provide an explicit link between two separate events -- advertising exposure and purchase behavior -- with memory providing the link between these events.
Originally presented at the eighth annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference held in Toronto, some chapters in this volume present recent research on the role of inferences in advertising situations, the effects of exposure to multiple advertisements, message receptivity, drama advertisements and the use of EEG in measuring advertising effectiveness. Contributions focus on research examining the effects of advertising exposure on consumer information processing and decision making. This book will be of interest to consumer psychologists and professionals in advertising and marketing.

Brands and businesses from across the globe have tried to leverage the India opportunity, based upon simplistic and widely-held assumptions. This book takes a critical look at these myths and contradictions from an inside perspective, presenting a fresh and nuanced perspective on the opportunities that the Indian market offers. It draws upon a wealth of data, from consumer research, market data, macroeconomic research, popular culture and case studies, to provide a thorough and compelling insight into what makes for success in the complex Indian market, based upon two decades of experience.

As developing nations consume more goods, their relevance in the global marketplace increases. Existing assumptions and postulations about consumer consumption in various societies are being displaced largely due to the dynamic nature of the market. However, research has not been adequately devoted to explore the developments in consumer behavior in developing nations, which has resulted in numerous unanswered questions. Exploring the Dynamics of Consumerism in Developing Nations provides vital research on consumer behavior in developing countries and changes in the socio-cultural dimensions of marketing. While highlighting topics such as celebrity influence, marketing malpractices, and the adoption of e-government, this publication is ideally designed for researchers, advanced-level students, policymakers, and managers.

What does consumption in the global south signify, and how are its complexities communicated in media discourses? Consumption, Media and the Global South presents original research examining key themes in the ways in which consumption in the global south - by elites, the middle classes, and the poor - is discursively constructed in media texts. With the global triumph of capitalist economies and neoliberal values, consumption is increasingly viewed by populations in the global south as both a right to which they are denied access, and once accessed as evidence of an improved life. The ways in which this debate plays out on the stage of the media is an important element of the picture. This book looks at the media representation of consumer culture in Africa, China, Brazil and India through case studies ranging from celebrity selfies, to travel websites, news reports and documentary film.

Consumption practices in China have been transformed at an unprecedented pace. Under Mao Zedong, the state controlled nearly all aspects of what people consumed, from everyday necessities to entertainment and the media; today, shoddy state-run stores characterized by a dearth of choices have made way for luxury malls and hypermarkets filled with a multitude of products. Consumption in China explores what it means to be a consumer in the world s fastest growing economy. LiAnne Yu provides a multi-faceted portrait of the impact of increased consumption on urban spaces, social status, lifestyles, identities, and freedom of expression. The book also examines what is unique and what is universal about how consumer practices in China have developed, investigating the factors that differentiate them from what has been observed among the already mature consumer markets. Behind the often staggering statistics about China are the very human stories that highlight the emotional and social triggers behind consumption. This engaging book is a valuable resource for students, scholars and business professionals interested in a deeper understanding of what motivates China s consumers, and what challenges they face as more aspects of everyday life become commoditized.

This collection explores the relationships between the emotional and material, engaging with and developing the debates surrounding the emotional and material labour involved in producing and reproducing domestic and intimate spaces. The contributions examine the geographies and spaces of consumption in international and local-global spheres.

Kaj Ilmonen was a pioneer in the third wave of the sociology of consumption. This book provides a balanced overview of the sociology of consumption, arguing that the enthusiasm of 'the third wave' exaggerated the role of the symbolic and imaginary at the expense of the materiality of human societies.

A riveting investigation into the dark underbelly of the global trash trade - a dirty, multi-billion-dollar industry that almost no one knows exists.

The total mass of the world's manmade materials has recently come to equal the entire biomass of the earth. This means we are living in a world where man's ability to create garbage, or eventual garbage, has surpassed the earth's ability to create life. Dumps and landfills around the world are overflowing, and disputes about what to do with the tons of garbage generated every day have given rise to waste wars waged in just about every country on earth. Some are border skirmishes, fought to move trash out of one place and dump it into another. Others are waged across thousands of miles.

But no matter the scale, one thing is true about almost all of them: few people have any idea they're happening. For every story about how a commodity gets hustled through world supply chains for consumption, there exists another untold story about how it gets discarded for renewal - or for eternity. Some trash gets tossed onto roadsides. Some gets burned for fuel. Some gets buried underground. But most of it lives a hot potato second life, getting bartered, sold, re-sold, smuggled, salvaged, re-purposed from one country or mafia or corporation to another, with devastating consequences for millions of people.

Waste Wars tells the stories of five trash conflicts being waged in different corners of the world right now. They are representative but rich strands in the story of our planet's runaway garbage pandemic. In each theater, a different commodity is being smuggled or imported or bartered. Sometimes there is a winner; sometimes there is a loser. And in each theater a different political dilemma - from global inequality to the pitfalls of green politics - is presenting itself through the seemingly pedestrian medium of trash. A globe-trotting work of relentless investigative reporting, Waste Wars exposes the multi-billion-dollar global garbage trade in which almost everyone in the world unknowingly engages and asks: If the handling of its trash reveals deeper truths about a particular society, what does the global business of trash say about our world today?

A classic treatise that defined the field of applied demand analysis, Consumer Demand in the United States: Prices, Income, and Consumption Behavior is now fully updated and expanded for a new generation. Consumption expenditures by households in the United States account for about 70% of America's GDP. The primary focus in this book is on how households adjust these expenditures in response to changes in price and income. Econometric estimates of price and income elasticities are obtained for an exhaustive array of goods and services using data from surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and aggregate consumption expenditures from the National Income and Product Accounts, providing a better understanding of consumer demand. Practical models for forecasting future price and income elasticities are also demonstrated. Fully revised with over a dozen new chapters and appendices, the book revisits the original Houthakker-Taylor models while examining new material as well, such as the use of quantile regression and the stationarity of consumer preference. It also explores the emerging connection between neuroscience and consumer behavior, integrating the economic literature on demand theory with psychology literature. The most comprehensive treatment of the topic to date, this volume will be an essential resource for any researcher, student or professional economist working on consumer behavior or demand theory, as well as investors and policymakers concerned with the impact of economic fluctuations.