Russell Keat is Reader in Philosophy, Nigel Whiteley is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Visual Arts and Nicholas Abercrombie is Professor of Sociology—all at the University of Lancaster.

• Introduction Part One Social change and consumption 1 Scepticism, authority and the market 2 Authority and consumer society 3 Consumers, identity and belonging: reflections on some theses of Zygmunt Bauman 4 The organized consumer and consumer information co-operatives 5 Advertising: moving beyond the stereotypes 6 The limits of consumption and the post-modern ‘religion’ of the New Age Part Two Consuming culture 7 High art and the high street: the ‘commerce-and-culture’ Debate 8 Planning a culture for the people? 9 The culture of consumption: design museums as educators or tastemakers? 10 Framing the audience for theatre Part Three Consuming public services 11 Citizens, charters and contracts 12 Consuming health and welfare 13 Consuming education 14 Retailing the police: corporate identity and the Met. 15 Conversationalization of public discourse and the authority of the consumer