Books by Brian Moeran

Drawing on 20 years of ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological theory, anthropologist Brian Moeran argues that fashion magazines are able to cast a spell over their readers by using practices and rituals found in age-old magical and religious rites.

At the heart of Moeran's analysis is a firm belief in fieldwork and ethnography - terms much bandied about in business, management and cultural studies, but rarely undertaken in depth.

Presents a case study of an advertising campaign to outline the complex relations that exist between different divisions (account, planning, marketing, creative) within an advertising agency, and between the agency and the client, and the agency and media.

An account of life in the Japanese countryside, as seen through the eyes of an anthropologist who did fieldwork there for four years. It depicts the intricate relationships among the valley people, but also those between them and the anthropologist who has come from the outside world to study them.

This work consists of 12 essays on different aspects of Asian media by Japanese, European, and American scholars, many of whom have themselves been involved in the production of media forms.

Making use of general theories from the disciplines of anthropology, linguistics, media studies and semiotics, this book attempts to demystify Japanese culture as it has been hitherto presented in the West, and shows how such cultural forms as 'noodle westerns' and high-school baseball uphold the well-known ideologies of 'selflessness'.

Follows the experiences of the author as a participant observer in the day-to-day running of a Japanese advertising agency. This book introduces students to ways in which anthropologists study social systems in business. It also shows how detailed ethnography can lead to an understanding of numerous different, but interlocking, theoretical issues.

Examining images of women in Japanese consumerism, this book explores a variety of media targeted at women - in particular magazines, but also television, popular literature and consumer trends.