Contents:
1. Introduction: the meaning of consumption; the meaning of change? Steven Miles, Kevin Meethan and Alison Anderson 2. Setting the Scene: changing conceptions of consumption Alan Warde 3. Consuming Women; winning women? Janice Winship 4. Consuming Men; producing Loaded Ben Crewe 5. Producing TV; consuming TV Steve Spittle 6. Consuming Advertising; consuming cultural history Liz McFall and Paul du Gay 7. Consuming Retro; consuming design Adrian Franklin 8. Consuming Symbolic Meaning; consuming alcohol 9. Consuming Technology; consuming home computers Elaine Lally 10. Consuming Youth; consuming lifestyles Steven Miles 11. Changing Consumer; changing disciplinarity Russell W. Belk

The consumer ethic is ubiquitous. Everything we do, see, hear and even feel appears to be connected in some way to our experience as consumers. The increasingly high profile of debates over consumption, consumer culture, consumer behaviour and consumer rights reflects a world undergoing rapid change. The Changing Consumer charts thenature of that change, as well as discussing why consumption has become so important and what role, if any, it plays in underpinning social, economic and political transformation. Featuring contributions from some of the leading theorists of consumption from across a range of disciplines, this collection includes chapters on:
* Men's consumption and men's magazines
* The changing profile of women as consumers
* the representation of consumption on popular TV shows
* Consuming retro chic
* The symbolic and emotional role of alcohol consumption.
Drawing on fascinating case studies throughout, this book will be essential reading for students and academics interested in the study of consumption.

Contents:
1. Consumption takes time
Textbook consumption theory Brief references to some literature Time as a context Two commodity case Three commodity case Non-linear time constraint Rates of consumption Satiation and general equilibrium Work, consumption and 'leisure' times Concluding remarks
2. Zurück Zu Gossen
Gossen on the uses of time Selected responses to Gossen's gem Georgescu-Roegen on Gossen Forgetting the forefather? Comparative statics Comparative statics of alternative preferences Many time-uses Concluding remarks
3. Further explanatory analysis
The basic case and its simplification Further discussion Preference loops on the time-constraint plane The expenditure function A specific expenditure function Comparative statics of time-use Cobb-Douglas preference loops From time use to commodity use Other forms of the C matrix Demand relations in commodity space Rates of consumption (and characterization of choices) Availability without consumption Non-linearities and non-convex consumption sets Intertemporal consumption theory Work and leisure Concluding remarks
4. Welfare economics
The basic case Rates of consumption Availability Pure leisure time Pareto efficiency and competitive equilibria Three commodities Liberal welfare economics Capabilities Concluding remarks
5. Activities rather than wants
A generalization Risk and uncertainty Space, location and travel Intrinsically-valued and result-valued activities Doing two things at once Repetition and Gossen's second law Practicing Set-up-times Sleep Endogenous T Voluntary work and charitable donations Shared activity Time-use surveys Some broader considerations 'Time, that most valuable health' (Alfred Marshall, 1873) Decision-making Satiable preferences Wider still

What is the nature of motives, goals, and desires that prompt consumption behaviours? Why do consumers buy and consume particular products, brands and services from the multitude of alternatives afforded by their environments? How do consumers think and feel about their cravings? This book provides provocative answers to all of these questions. It brings together an international collection of authors from a variety of disciplines; they offer new and critical perspectives, summarize key findings and provide important theoretical frameworks to guide the reader through the subject.

The book is unique in its focus and its multifaceted approach. Anyone interested in consumption and consumer behaviour and research will find fascinating and important insights to illuminate the subject.

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What role does consumption play in Japanese lives that are more than study, work and shopping? How have those lives changed since World War II as Japan has wrestled with the meaning of white-collar careers, women spreading their wings, changing family values, a shrinking birth rate, an aging population? This book explores Japan through the eyes of Japanese researchers and discovers patterns of change that are both uniquely Japanese and shared by consumers in other advanced industrial nations.

What role does consumption play in Japanese lives that are more than study, work and shopping? How have those lives changed since World War II as Japan has wrestled with the meaning of white-collar careers, women spreading their wings, changing family values, a shrinking birth rate, an aging population? This book explores Japan through the eyes of Japanese researchers and discovers patterns of change that are both uniquely Japanese and shared by consumers in other advanced industrial nations.

This major reference book provides an authoritative analysis and survey of consumer research and economic psychology. It provides an international, in-depth overview of the present state of knowledge and theory which will be indispensable to students, researchers and practitioners. The Companion presents over 100 specially commissioned entries on important topics in consumer research and economic psychology from behaviourism and brand loyalty to trust and the psychology of tourism. Leading scholars in the fields provide stimulating insights into the area as well as summarising existing knowledge. Readers will find entries both on new topics that have rarely been considered in the framework of consumer research or economic psychology and on topics that have long been considered important in these disciplines. The book will ably meet the needs of undergraduate and graduate students in business administration, economics, marketing and psychology, as well as informing researchers and practitioners in those disciplines.

Examines consumer decision-making on products and services of variable quality at the level of retail markets. Addresses for the first time consumer-producer interaction at the level of the individual consumer; issues of quality, consumption experience, and willingness-to-pay, as exhibited by individual consumers; and how these issues affect the decision-making process.

Informing Health Care Purchasers

In today's competitive marketplace, health care providers, corporate purchasers, and health care executives are focusing their attention on quality, value, and accountability.

This valuable resource provides health care practitioners, administrators, and policymakers with the pertinent information they need to create a scientific method of measuring customer satisfaction.

Examines consumer decision-making on products and services of variable quality at the level of retail markets. Addresses for the first time consumer-producer interaction at the level of the individual consumer; issues of quality, consumption experience, and willingness-to-pay, as exhibited by individual consumers; and how these issues affect the decision-making process.

Nearly 85 years ago, Wesley Clair Mitchell, the acknowledged leader of American economists during the first half of this century, wrote: "Important as the art of spending is, we have developed less skill in its practice than in the practice of making money. Common sense forbids our wasting dollars earned by irksome efforts; and yet we are notoriously extravagant. Ignorance of qualities, uncertainty of taste, lack of accounting, carelessness about pricesa. Many of us scarcely know what becomes of our moneya." More than ever, in our world of ever-increasing credit card debt, lenient bankruptcy laws, and runaway consumption, these words still ring true. This collection of Mitchell's essays, makes it easier for today's and tomorrow's economists and social scientists to become acquainted with Mitchell's many contributions to the study of the American economy. Regrettably, the passage of time can blur and even obliterate the reputation and achievements of yesterday's leaders of ideas and actions. Although the National Bureau of Economic Research, which Mitchell helped to found and which he led in the 1920s and 1930s, remains a leading research institution, relatively few of its associates, who represent the elite among U.S. academic economists, have any first-hand acquaintance with Mitchell's work. Eli Ginzberg rounds out this edition with Mitchell's comprehensive analysis of "Business Cycles," first published in 1929, an area that commanded most of his scholarly efforts. Ginzberg's essay on Mitchell, written in 1931 and published for the first time in 1997, serves as an appropriate introduction to this new edition. His afterword contains remarks delivered at the 50th anniversary of Mitchell's death at the meeting of the Allied Social Sciences Association held in Chicago early in 1998, a telling tribute to this undisputed giant in the field. "Wesley Clair Mitchell" (1874u1948) held major teaching posts at the University of California and Columbia University. One of the most eminent U.S. economists, Mitchell focused much of his research on the statistical investigation of business cycles. His two major works are "Business Cycles (1913) and Business Cycles: The Problem at its Setting, (1927). Eli Ginzberg" is A. Barton Hepburn Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of Business, and Director of the Eisenhower Center for the Conservation of Human Resources at Columbia University.

How do people communicate their romantic feelings? Gift giving is one way. Giving and receiving of gifts is a characteristic of intimate relationships. Gifts are a message, a form of communication with a tangible material object, about love, affection, or concern for the recipient. The "romantic gift" evokes a multitude of intertwined meanings: passion, intimacy, affection, persuasion, care, celebration, altruism, and nostalgia. They can also connote the negative images of obligation and reciprocity. Romantic gift giving may be practiced at rituals, during rites of passage, or for casual occasions, to affirm the continued importance of the romantic relationship. We may even romanticize the giving of gifts to the self, to nonhuman companions, and to others we do not know personally. If loving and giving are a practice, then romantic gift giving is a practice of loving with intimate-or would-be intimate-others. This book addresses gift giving among consumers attempting to express and construct romantic love. It lies at the intersection of consumption, markets, and culture. In societies shaped by the globalizing neo-liberal economic order, increasing wealth disparity, and a partially digitized social environment that they help to co-construct, it may be time to rethink romantic love. Gift giving is a key arena to do so, as gifts make love tangible and act as carriers of meaning as well as cultural symbols. In gift giving the meanings of romance are renewed, renegotiated, and reconstructed. Gifts, Romance, And Consumer Culture demonstrates a wide variety of scholarly work bearing on romantic gift giving using an interpretive consumer research perspective. The book introduces critical studies by scholars in this unfolding and new interdisciplinary field.

This far-reaching study shows that operating efficiencies are not what are driving today's unrelenting bank merger mania. It suggests that bank mergers and consolidation may have effects that are contrary to consumer and non-financial business interests, such as lower rates of interest, increasing fees, and tighter credit constraints. Dymski recommends several new policies to apply to the evaluation of prospective mergers.

This far-reaching study shows that operating efficiencies are not what are driving today's unrelenting bank merger mania. It suggests that bank mergers and consolidation may have effects that are contrary to consumer and non-financial business interests, such as lower rates of interest, increasing fees, and tighter credit constraints. Dymski recommends several new policies to apply to the evaluation of prospective mergers.

Series Information:
Routledge Interpretive Marketing Research

Consumer research has traditionally focused on issues of epistemology in the collection and analysis of data. As a consequence, the crisis in representation which has radically reshaped understanding in the social sciences, has, so far, had very little impact on consumer research. This book redresses the balance with an investigation of representation and constructions of 'truth' in consumer research. Subjects covered include:
* construction of the researcher and consumer voice
* quantitative tools and representation
* advertising narratives
* poetic representation of consumer experience
* the crisis in the crisis concept
* consumer-oriented ethnographic research.
The essays are written by experts from Britain and the United States and draw on a broad range of theoretical approaches.

The study of consumption and its relationship to cultural and social values has become a vibrant and important field in recent years. Hitherto however, relatively few detailed and full length works on this topic have been published. In what will become a seminal volume, this book examines retail selling in various historical contexts and locations, as both an activity at once 'mundane' and almost universal. The book introduces the reader to the existing literature relevant to the subject; and explores the widespread perceptions of moral ambiguity surrounding the practice of selling consumer goods - ranging from concerns about the adulteration of goods, to fears about sharp practice on the part of retailers - and places such concerns in the context of wider societal values and ideas. The ambivalence towards retail selling and sellers is also a central focus of the collection, focussing on the attempts by retailers to develop selling techniques and successful practices of salesmanship, and at the same time establish widely-shared understandings of 'good' retailing. The book also delves into the more dubious practices of retail selling, including practices on the margin of legality, the issue of credit and changing attitudes towards debt. Uniquely the book examines how sales techniques relate to the wider context of a whole shopping 'experience' or shopping environment. Taken as a whole, this volume will provide a first port of call for students, researchers and others interested in exploring consumer cultures, and the cultural norms and practices involved in the sale of consumer goods in various historical periods and geographical contexts.

There are more people over 50 than ever before, with numbers likely to continue to rise. They are wealthier, healthier and happier than our old stereotypical images lead us to believe, yet this segment of the market is under-researched. In Understanding the Older Consumer, Barrie Gunter provides a detailed examination of the demographic, behavioural and psychological profiles of this group. He shows that without the responsibilities of loans and child raising and with better financial provision than in previous years, the over-50s represent a powerful spending force. In order to reach this group, marketers need to know how best to target advertising and respond to the changes that have occurred. Understanding the Older Consumer provides a wealth of information on older people's lifestyles and leisure, their interest in the mass media, their perceptions of advertising and their shopping preferences that will be invaluable to students of marketing, media and social psychology.

The Active Consumer discusses how consumers seem to delight in trying new solutions and exploring new combinatory possibilities. This book provides an economic-theoretical understanding of this phenomenon and the many ways in which innovation can structure consumer choice. The authors show from different points of view how central novelty can be in consumer behaviour, how it relates to technical change and how new consumer capabilities are developed and organized.

Presenting a unique study of shopping, the life of shopping centres and the nature of shoppers, this book offers new understanding of the significance of place and the construction of identity. From an historical and thematic survey of the nature of consumer societies and their implications for identity, the authors examine the commercial and historical background of two London shopping centres - Brent Cross and Wood Green. Drawing on their own primary research on shoppers from particular streets, focus groups and survey questionnaires, the authors examine particular issues that arise in the action of locating identity through shopping.
Shopping, Place and Identity engages with key debates in contemporary consumption and identity studies, yet presents a firmly grounded study that will complement the more speculative writing about shopping, place and identity that has developed in recent years.

Children as Consumers explores how children become socialised into the consumer society, how they respond to advertising and other sales promotions, what they like and dislike, what they believe and disbelieve, and whether they need to be protected through special legislation and regulation.
Children as Consumers will have wide appeal to students of psychology, sociology and media studies. It will also be useful to professionals inadvertising and marketing, media commentators and business studies students.

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The essays in "Border Fetishisms" explore the cultural, commercial, political and erotic dimensions that distinguish fetish formations in fractured colonial and postcolonial spaces. Spanning such topics as Surinamese conversion to Christianity to shoplifting in Georgian England, to face the fetish, the contributors neither demagicalize the fetish nor normalize the commodity. Instead, they call for the inclusion of material things -- as fetishes or not -- within the experience of human sufferings and joy.
Contributors: Robert J. Foster, Webb Keane, Susan Leg6~ne, Annelies Moors, Peter Pels, William Pietz, Adela Pinch, Patricia Spyer, Peter Stallybrass, Michael Taussig.

Understanding Green Consumer Behaviour examines basic aspects of the workings of the human mind, focusing on the thought processes involved when consumers make decisions about environmentally-friendly products.
The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on insights from management theory, psychology and anthropology, as well as the results of the author's own extensive field research. It provides a detailed account of the complex factors involved in 'green' consumerism.

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Households are one of the main sources of waste and of other environmental impacts. This is a study of domestic consumption. Drawing on empirical research largely from The Netherlands, it takes households as consumer units and examines the entire household metabolism. This includes the way domestic demand can influence where and how goods and services are produced, resource flows through households, and the differential impacts of different lifestyles. It shows both what would constitute sustainable domestic consumption and how far there is to go to achieve this.