Conversations on Consumption

Consumption studies has grown tremendously in the past decade. Researchers in sociology, geography, anthropology, history, marketing, management, organization and even art history have embraced consumption as a key institution of our era, and are eager for ideas and insights. Conversations on Consumption makes an important contribution to the growing field of consumption studies by offering readers a lively introduction to debates and dialogues that have shaped the field, in the form of engaging interviews and personal reflections from leading theorists and researchers.

The interviews in this collection were first published in the interdisciplinary journal Consumption Markets and Culture and together form an accessible summary of the leading ideas and key developments in consumption studies and social theory over the past two decades. With innovative contributions from marketing academics, historians, consumer researchers, sociologists, anthropologists and artists, the pieces highlight the interdisciplinary nature of consumption, as well as the wide-ranging interest in consumption studies. They are united in their approach to understand consumption, far removed from economic or managerial analysis, by focusing more on the role it plays in culture.

Conversations on Consumption will be of interest to scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, consumer research, management studies, and history.

Jonathan Schroeder is the William A. Kern Professor in Communications at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, USA. He has published widely on branding, communication, consumer research, and identity. He is the author of Visual Consumption (2002) and co-editor of Brand Culture (2006) and the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Visual Organization (2013). He is also editor-in-chief of the interdisciplinary journal Consumption Markets and Culture, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous other journals.