What and how we eat are two of the most persistent choices we face in everyday life. Whatever we decide on though, and however mundane our decisions may seem, they will be inscribed with information both about ourselves and about our positions in the world around us. Yet, food has only recently become a significant and coherent area of inquiry for cultural studies and the social sciences.

In a world undergoing rapid change, this essential collection discusses why consumption has become so important, and what role, if any, it plays in underpinning social, economic and political transformation.

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. This volume considers topics concerning this subject.

In Marketing Modernity, Adam Arvidsson traces the development of Italy's postmodern consumer culture from the 1920s to the present day. In so doing, Arvidsson argues that the culture of consumption we see in Italy today has its direct roots in the social vision articulated by the advertising industry in the years following the World War I. He then goes on to discuss how that vision was further elaborated by advertising's interaction with subsequent big discourses in 20th-century Italy: fascism, post-war mass political parties and the counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Based on a wide...

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.