Shopping: Material Culture Perspectives - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 164453049X ISBN 13: 9781644530498

Publisher: University of Delaware Press, 2014

Synopsis

The degree to which shopping, or, more broadly, consumerism, is both critiqued and defended in American society confirms the role that commercial goods play in our daily lives. This collection of essays provides case studies depicting selected aspects of this engaging activity. The authors include several historians with diverging specialties, an art historian, an anthropologist, an environmental journalist, a geographer and urban planner, and practicing artists. Each author demonstrates how a material culture perspective--a focus on the relationship between people and their things--can illuminate a specific corner of consumption. Connecting the essays are concerns about the spaces in which shopping occurs; about the experience of shopping itself, both individual and social; and about its economic, environmental, and personal downsides. Collectively, these essays demonstrate how a material culture perspective on shopping yields insights into multiple aspects of American culture.

About this title

About the Author:

Deborah C. Andrews is professor of English at the University of Delaware and directs the university's Center for Material Culture Studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Delaware Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 164453049X
• ISBN 13: 9781644530498
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230
• Editor: Andrews Deborah C.