Canonical Authors in Consumption Theory is the first work to compile the contributions of the greatest social thinkers in the global conversation about consumption and consumer culture. A prestigious reference work, it offers original chapters by the world's most prominent thought leaders and surveys how the work of historical theorists has influenced and shaped consumption theory, both through history and at the cutting edge of research. Consumption is at the core of contemporary lifestyles, of political successes and failures and of discussions around sustainability and environmental change. Contemporary consumer culture shapes modern identities, and is the engine of the globalizing capitalist economy. Still, most social theorizations over the last century and a half have addressed production processes rather than consumption processes. This is about to change. Studies of consumption play an increasing role as a topic and a domain of study in marketing, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. Currently, there is no single compilation that systematically links scholarly work published by the greatest social thinkers of the last 150 years to the understanding of contemporary consumer society. This book provides a solid framework for understanding the relevance of these canonical authors in social theory to facilitate analysis of consumer culture, and to act as a comprehensive reference point for consumer researchers, doctoral students and practitioners.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 In search of consumption . . . Søren Askegaard and Benoît Heilbrunn PART II Political economy and the quest for value 2 Marx, commodity and consumer culture A. Fuat Fırat 3 Why bother with Nietzsche? James Fitchett 4 Beyond disenchantment: Weber and the search for legitimacy Melanie Wallendorf 5 Karl Polanyi: whence the marketing mind? Dannie Kjeldgaard PART III Anthropology and consumption 6 Marcel Mauss: the gift that moves . . . Eric J. Arnould 7 Thick prescription: notes on the influence of Clifford Geertz on CCT John F. Sherry, Jr. 8 Mary Douglas: consumption codes, meaning structures and classification systems Ian Woodward 9 In defense of cultural economy: Marshall Sahlins Eric J. Arnould PART IV System and structuration 10 Bronislaw Malinowski, or the elementary material and symbolic forms of production, exchange and consumption Dominique Desjeux 11 Claude Lévi-Strauss and the structural fabric of meaning Benoît Heilbrunn 12 Talcott Parsons: structural foundations for cultural sociology Melanie Wallendorf 13 The relevance of consumption in Niklas Luhmann’s theory of society Kai-Uwe Hellmann and Marius K. Luedicke PART V Identity trajectories 14 Mind, self and consumption: George Herbert Mead Cele Otnes 15 Sartre’s insights for identity, desire, the gift and posthumanism Russell Belk 16 Paul Ricoeur, vigil of the self Benoît Heilbrunn 17 Habermas: reigniting enlightenment reason Jeff B. Murray PART VI Civilization and history 18 Remembering Walter Benjamin, or the death of the last intellectual Robert Kozinets 19 Norbert Elias: figurations and consumption Robin Canniford 20 Braudel’s notions of time, capitalism and market Eminegül Karababa PART VII The language of commodities 21 Shopping with Charles Peirce: from sign meaning to sign degeneracy in the marketplace Kent Grayson 22 Roland Barthes: the (anti-)structuralist Luca M. Visconti 23 Jean Baudrillard: the Nietzsche of our times(?) Per Østergaard (with a little help from his friends) 24 Bruno Latour: philosopher of togetherness in action Domen Bajde PART VIII Power games 197 25 Adorno, Horkheimer and the audacity of reason Jeff B. Murray 26 Pierre Bourdieu: luminary or elitist? Capital and the project of consumption Christina Goulding 27 Producing Foucauldians: consumer culture theory and the analytics of power 28 De Certeau: a thinker of the everyday Véronique Cova and Nil Özçağlar-Toulouse 29 Judith Butler: gender performativity and heterosexual hegemony Pauline Maclaran PART IX The imaginary and humanity 30 Freud the scientist? John Desmond 31 The consumer as sovereign: the general economy of Georges Bataille Christian Jantzen 32 Edgar Morin: the uniduality of the magical and the real Søren Askegaard 33 Beyond reductionism, constructivism and arbitrary sampling in consumer research thanks to Castoriadis Dominique Bouchet 34 Ž ižek: a pervert’s guide to the libidinal narcissistic economy Alan Bradshaw PART X Postscript 35 To ERR is human: on failing to read (and forgetting to remember) the classics Stephen Brown