Shopping
Material Culture Perspectives
Deborah C. Andrews (Edited by), Sandy Isenstadt (Contributions by), Susan Strasser (Contributions by), David Ames (Contributions by), Lance Winn (Contributions by), Anne Krulikowski (Contributions by), J. Ritchie Garrison (Contributions by), Jay Gitlin (Contributions by), McKay Jenkins (Contributions by), Helen Sheumaker (Contributions by), Gretchen Herrmann (Contributions by), Martha Rosler (Contributions by)
9781644530498
Paperback / softback, published 25 November 2014
230 pages, 32
23.8 x 16 x 1.4 cm, 0.336 kg
The degree to which shopping, or, more broadly, consumerism, is both critiqued and defended in American society confirms the role that commercial goods play in our daily lives. This collection of essays provides case studies depicting selected aspects of this engaging activity. The authors include several historians with diverging specialties: an art historian, an anthropologist, an environmental journalist, a geographer and urban planner, and practicing artists. Each author demonstrates how a material culture perspective-a focus on the relationship between people and their things-can illuminate a specific corner of consumption. Connecting the essays are concerns about the spaces in which shopping occurs; about the experience of shopping itself, both individual and social; and about its economic, environmental, and personal downsides. Collectively, these essays demonstrate how a material culture perspective on shopping yields insights into multiple aspects of American culture.
Published by University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
