Ordinary Consumption

ISBN-13: 9780415270373 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 272 str.

Jukka Gronow

Opis

The sociology of consumption has concentrated unduly on the more spectacular and visual aspects of contemporary consumer behaviour, thereby constructing an unbalanced and misleading view. This collection emphasises ordinary rather than extraordinary items, routine and repetitive behaviour rather than conscious decision-making. It studies practical contexts of use rather than decisions to purchase and analyzes collective identification rather than personal identity. Each essay argues one or more of these points, for the most part using new empirical material from several different national contexts. The topics analyzed include shopping in Taiwan, second-home ownership in France, environmental considerations concerning food choice in Denmark, the take-up of new domestic technologies in Finland and kitchen design in England. Key concepts like tradition, routine and habit are clarified and new conceptual distinctions are made, with the book defending theoretical approaches deriving from Simmel, Weber, Durkheim and Bourdieu.

Spis treści

Introduction by Gronow and Warde 1. Consumption and Routine Kaj Ilmonen 2. Routinization or reflexivity?:consumers and normative claims for environmental considersation Bente Halkier 3. Ordinary and extraordinary consumption 4. Consuming the ordinary: changing habits versus routinisation Mark Tomlinson 5, Deviant pleasures and the normative rhetoric of the consumer society Roberta Sassatelli 6. SMART LIFE 9.0 - Representations of everyday life in future studies Katja Oksanen 7.Consumption caught in the 'cash nexus' Tim Dant 8. Networks of provision: consumers, utilities and technologies Elizabeth Shove and Heather Chappells 9. Ordinary and Distinctive Kitchens; or 'a kitchen is a kitchen is a kitchen' Dale Southerton 10. Lifestyle and social integration: a study of middle class culture in Manchester Brian Longhurst and Mike Savage 11. Working at consumption: the second home and daily life Davina Chaplin 12. The role of states in the creation of consumption norms Terhi-Anna Wilska Afterword The implications of ordinary consumption Akan Warde and Jukka Gronow

O autorze

Jukka Gronow is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Academy of Science. Alan Warde is Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester, and a co-director fo the ESRC for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC).