Since the 1990s, there has been a lively debate among sociologists and anthropologists about the global flow of consumer goods and cultural products. While early studies focused on visible American exports like Coca-Cola and popular music, and the literature was often polarized between globalization and localization stories, recent contributions have expanded the range of topics …
Much popular discussion of children’s eating habits is filled with stereotypical claims, tired assumptions and victim blaming. For her pioneering book, Fast Food Kids, Amy Best engaged in ethnography, hanging out with youth in high school cafeterias and after school, at McDonald’s and other fast food outlets. Best provides an original account of youth food …
ASA Section on the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award for 2017 Winners: Kristie O’Neill and Daniel Silver, “From Hungry to Healthy: Simmel, Self-Cultivation and the Transformative Experience of Eating for Beauty” Honorable mention: Nathan Wilmers, “Does Consumer Demand Reproduce Inequality? High-income Consumers, Vertical Differentiation and the Wage Structure” ASA Section …
There is little doubt that recent years have seen significant change in the gendered pattern of consumption, along with much else about gender. A prime example comes from the realms of fashion and beauty. Described popularly, although not particularly usefully, as the rise of “metrosexuals,” one aspect of this change is increased male participation in …
Christopher Andrews’ May blogpost takes up a question that is sure to get increasing attention: is automation and artificial intelligence going to significantly reduce the number of jobs? What is the future of work? Andrews looks at self-checkout lanes in supermarkets—one of the biggest and most obvious candidates for job elimination—and has surprising and very …
Richard Ocejo’s fantastic work on four occupations (butchers, bartenders, distillers and barbers) is an exploration of how symbolically intricate contemporary consumption has become and the role that producers are playing at the consumer frontier. His book will be out next month from Princeton. Here Richard asks us to think about the lowly hot dog, now a gourmet …
It is a great pleasure to introduce Laura Miller’s blog this month. Laura’s first book, Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption (Chicago 2006), was a path-breaking account of the dual forces (commercial success and cultural integrity) that affect booksellers. Her new book, Building Nature’s Market: The Business and Politics of Natural Foods (Chicago …
Section member Thomas Calkins has created a fantastic new poster to promote our section. Here is a brief blurb from Thomas about this initiative: “The American Sociological Association (ASA) boasts 50+ sections, reflecting the richness of sociological scholarship in contemporary America. Consumers & Consumption is a small but growing section within the ASA which both young and more established scholars …
Want to help others join the Consumers and Consumption section? Why not offer them a gift membership? Doing so is easy at this link: http://asa.enoah.com/Home/My-ASA/Gift-Section Please note that the gift membership system will close on July 31. Help us grow our section!
Congratulations to Josée Johnston, Kate Cairns, and Shyon Baumann on their new book. The appearance of an Introductory Sociology textbook using “stuff” as its focus is evidence of at least two important ways in which the world has changed. First, that consumption and possessions have become so central in the lives of college students that …
In recent years, the influence of Pierre Bourdieu on U.S. sociology has increased substantially. Jeffery Sallaz and Jane Zavisca did an analysis of Bourdieusian concepts in major journals between 1980-2004, finding both increasing influence as well as an expansion of concepts, from cultural capital to habitus to field. Since that analysis the use of his …
Meredith Katz’s engaging and informative blog this month raises questions that many of us face in our teaching. Thank you Meredith for getting this conversation going. It would be great to have some section discussion via the comments section. Here are a couple of questions I thought about after reading… There is a lot of …
ASA Section on the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award for 2017 The ASA Section on the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award goes to the author (s) of the best published article that makes a significant, original contribution to the understanding of ideas about, and practices of, consumption. …
By Juliet Schor As this year’s Section Chair, I welcome you to Consume This!—the new monthly blog of our Section. Over the coming year we will be featuring research and analysis by members of the section. In this opening blog I wanted to share some findings I’m developing with my research team at Boston College. …
Congratulations to Viviana Zelizer on the publication of her new book, Morals and Markets: The Development of Life Insurance in the United States. The book includes a Foreword by Kieran Healy, and will be released in July 2017 with Columbia University Press. Description Life insurance—the promise of an insurer to pay a sum upon a person’s … Continue reading
Congratulations to Nina Bandelj, Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer on the publication of their new edited collection, Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works (Princeton University Press, 2017). Description The world of money is being transformed as households and organizations face changing economies, and new currencies and payment systems like Bitcoin and Apple Pay gain ground. What is … Continue reading
A new edition of Viviana Zelizer’s award winning book is now available with Princeton University Press: The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies. The book includes a foreword by Nigel Dodd and a new afterword by the author. Description A dollar is a dollar—or so most of us believe. Indeed, it is … Continue reading
In a recent piece published in The Mainlander, Zack Hyde examines the gentrification of Vancouver as a process of symbolic cannibalism. Continue reading
Mediating Cultural Work: Texts, Objects and Politics Conference of the CAMEo Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies 6-8 September 2017, Stamford Court, University of Leicester, UK Keynote Speakers: Angela McRobbie (Goldsmiths) author of ‘Be Creative’ Jack Linchuan Qiu (Chinese University of Hong Kong) author of ‘Goodbye iSlave’ John Beck (Westminster) & Matthew Cornford (Brighton) co-authors … Continue reading
See this CFP for an upcoming conference at the University of York, UK: Food is a Feminist Issue: Media, Bodies, Appetites. Abstracts are due April 14, 2017; the conference is June 30, 2017. Continue reading
Listen to an interview with Michaela DeSoucey on the BBC Radio program, The Food Chain. The episode, entitled “Post-Truth Food,” examines “why stories about food shortages take hold so quickly – whether they are true or not.” Continue reading
