New Forms of Consumption

New forms of consumption such as those facilitated by cyberspace, themed environments, the commodification of sex, and the increasing role of leisure in society all play new and interesting roles in daily life that combine consumerism with the most contemporary social forms. This book examines the recent ways in which consumerism has been studied with special emphasis given to these and other newly emerging topics.

Consumption as a field of cultural studies overlaps with theories of postmodernism, the social construction of self, commodification in late capitalism, and the role of mass media in daily life. New forms of consumption such as those facilitated by cyberspace, themed environments, the commodification of sex, and the increasing role of leisure in society all play new and interesting roles in daily life that combine consumerism with the most contemporary social forms.

This collection of essays examines the recent ways in which consumerism has been approached by cultural studies with special emphasis given to these and other newly emerging topics. The book is divided into three parts. The first part provides a theoretical overview of consumption studies dealing with classical and more contemporary approaches in light of the debate between advocates and critics of postmodernism. In this section there are papers on McDonaldization, tourism and cultural studies, and the Theory of Shopping. The second part emphasizes empirical studies of the commodification process. Papers address the transformation of women's bodies and the mass commodification of milk, the creation of the toddler as a subject and the commodification of childhood, the commodification of sports, and the commodification of rock music. The third section of the book explores new forms of consumption on a more detailed and concentrated level. Papers in this section include the rise of sex tourism as a global industry, the commodification of the sacred, and the emergence of new consumer spaces in the city. An introduction by the editor delineates the advantages of his approach to new forms of consumption based squarely in the emerging issues of cultural studies, debates transcending postmodernism, and the society of the spectacle.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Theoretical Perspectives
Chapter 3 Approaches to Consumption: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives
Chapter 4 The Process of McDonaldization is not Uniform nor are Its Settings, Consumers, or the Consumption of Its Goods and Services
Chapter 5 Mass Tourism or the Re-enchantment of the World? Issues and Contradictions in the Study of Travel
Chapter 6 Shopping and Postmodernism: Consumption, Production, Identity and the Internet
Part 7 Case Studies
Chapter 8 BrainSuck
Chapter 9 The Rise of "The Toddler" as Subject and as Merchandising Category in the 1930's
Chapter 10 The Body and the Country: A Political Ecology of Consumption
Chapter 11 Packaging Violence: Media, Story Sequencing and the Perception of Right and Wrong
Chapter 12 The Commodifcation of Sports: The Example of Personal Seat Liscenses in Professional Football
Chapter 13 The Commodification of Rebellion: Rock Culture and Consumer Capitalism
Chapter 14 Fantasy Tours: Exploring the Global Consumption of Carribean Sex Toursims
Chapter 15 Commodification and Theming of the Sacred: Changing Patterns of Tourist Consumption in the "Holy Land"
Chapter 16 The Consumption of Space and the Spaces of Consumption