Collecting in Contemporary Practice

This clear and lively book, based on the understanding of collecting practice rather than collections themselves, provides an illuminating analysis of collecting as a major social and individual phenomenon in contemporary sociey. Pearce uses both qualitative and quantitative informaion to highlight the significance of collecting in relation to the cultural process, popular culture, contemporary attitudes to material culture, and the idea of collecting as a postmodern activity.

Susan Pearce is Professor of Museum Studies and Deans of Arts at the University of Leicester. She is most recently author of Museums, Objects and Collections (1992), On Collecting: An Investigation into Collecting in te European Tradition (1995) and Experiencing Culture in the Western World (1997).