Books in the Consumption and Public Life series

Harold Wilhite makes an important new contribution to the interpretation of changing consumption in India, using an ethnographic approach to interrogate the rapid growth in the consumption of household durables, beauty and cleanliness products, exploring how the engagement of local practices with the globalizing economy result in change.

This volume casts a critical eye on representations and practices of consumption in the Western world. It offers a unique contemporary perspective on the themes of counter-consumerism, ecological crisis and sustainability that are rising fast on the political and cultural agenda.

Democracy is based on the belief that the media gets the attention of voters. But is this plausible in an age of multiplying media, disillusionment with the political system and time-scarcity? This book addresses this question, and charts experiences of 'public connection'.

This book provides a timely forum for current thinking on consumption and citizenship, exploring overlaps and tensions between them. Experts from history, theory, media studies, law, and civil society, retrieve alternative traditions of consumption and citizenship in West and East, and evaluate the civic prospects of consumption for the future.