Barry Smart is Professor of Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and has longstanding research interests in the fields of social theory, political economy, and philosophy. His research interests include critical social research ethics; higher education; and collaborative work on veganism, ethics, lifestyle and environment.

The cultural contradictions of modern capitalism have never been deeper or more dramatic. These contradictions are also confusing. While governments tell citizens to spend in order to save capitalism, economists tell us that western consumers spend too much and Chinese workers, too little. Barry Smart′s engaging contribution offers clear insights into the economic mysteries of modern consumption and production, providing in tandem an historical sociology of the rise of America as a consumer society - this is a timely sociological guide to the perplexedBryan S. TurnerThe Graduate Center, City University of New York Barry Smart′s Consumer society is the best study I have seen of contemporary features of the current stage of capitalism organized around consumption and commodities. The book′s range is broad and synoptic and its research is highly impressive. The text is engaging and accessible and should be of interest to a wide range of readersDouglas KellnerUCLA, author of Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy

• Consuming: Historical and Conceptual IssuesConsumer Choice: Rhetoric and Reality Cultivating Consumers: Advertising, Marketing and BrandingDesigning Obsolescence, Promoting Consumer DemandGlobalization and Modern Consumer CultureConsequences of ConsumerismAn Unsustainable All-Consuming WorldConsuming Futures I: Business as UsualConsuming Futures II: ′Green′ and Sustainable Alternatives

Barry Smart is Professor of Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and has longstanding research interests in the fields of social theory, political economy, and philosophy. His research interests include critical social research ethics; higher education; and collaborative work on veganism, ethics, lifestyle and environment.

The cultural contradictions of modern capitalism have never been deeper or more dramatic. These contradictions are also confusing. While governments tell citizens to spend in order to save capitalism, economists tell us that western consumers spend too much and Chinese workers, too little. Barry Smart′s engaging contribution offers clear insights into the economic mysteries of modern consumption and production, providing in tandem an historical sociology of the rise of America as a consumer society - this is a timely sociological guide to the perplexedBryan S. TurnerThe Graduate Center, City University of New York Barry Smart′s Consumer society is the best study I have seen of contemporary features of the current stage of capitalism organized around consumption and commodities. The book′s range is broad and synoptic and its research is highly impressive. The text is engaging and accessible and should be of interest to a wide range of readersDouglas KellnerUCLA, author of Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy

• Consuming: Historical and Conceptual IssuesConsumer Choice: Rhetoric and Reality Cultivating Consumers: Advertising, Marketing and BrandingDesigning Obsolescence, Promoting Consumer DemandGlobalization and Modern Consumer CultureConsequences of ConsumerismAn Unsustainable All-Consuming WorldConsuming Futures I: Business as UsualConsuming Futures II: ′Green′ and Sustainable Alternatives

Barry Smart is Professor of Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and has longstanding research interests in the fields of social theory, political economy, and philosophy. His research interests include critical social research ethics; higher education; and collaborative work on veganism, ethics, lifestyle and environment.

The cultural contradictions of modern capitalism have never been deeper or more dramatic. These contradictions are also confusing. While governments tell citizens to spend in order to save capitalism, economists tell us that western consumers spend too much and Chinese workers, too little. Barry Smart′s engaging contribution offers clear insights into the economic mysteries of modern consumption and production, providing in tandem an historical sociology of the rise of America as a consumer society - this is a timely sociological guide to the perplexedBryan S. TurnerThe Graduate Center, City University of New York Barry Smart′s Consumer society is the best study I have seen of contemporary features of the current stage of capitalism organized around consumption and commodities. The book′s range is broad and synoptic and its research is highly impressive. The text is engaging and accessible and should be of interest to a wide range of readersDouglas KellnerUCLA, author of Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy

• Consuming: Historical and Conceptual IssuesConsumer Choice: Rhetoric and Reality Cultivating Consumers: Advertising, Marketing and BrandingDesigning Obsolescence, Promoting Consumer DemandGlobalization and Modern Consumer CultureConsequences of ConsumerismAn Unsustainable All-Consuming WorldConsuming Futures I: Business as UsualConsuming Futures II: ′Green′ and Sustainable Alternatives