`Consumer Culture is a gem of a book. Celia Lury writes with insight, timeliness, and a thorough mastery of the subject. The general reader, the scholar, and the student will read Consumer Culture with the disturbing kind of satisfaction that comes from learning just how deeply consumerism has become a way of life.'---Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University<BR><BR>`In a now vast literature Celia Lury's new edition stands out for its clarity and critical intelligence. In addition to offering a guide through the thicket of new and old approaches, this book provides readers with a map to explore how consumption shapes personal and group identities.'---Frank Trentmann, Birkbeck College, Director of the Cultures of Consumption Research Programme 2002-7<BR><BR>`Consumer culture is everywhere but we rarely see it. In this second revised edition, Celia Lury takes a number of vivid scenes from our daily lives and provides helpful cultural grounding for questioning our ordinary experiences as consumers. Well organized and well written, the book provides an articulated picture of an increasingly fundamental aspect of contemporary cultures, stressing the role that ethics, subjectivity and difference have in shaping what consumer culture is today. Offering theoretical definitions and practical examples, this is a user-friendly book which will attract many readers and help them through the predicament of consumer choice and its increasingly relevant symbolic centrality for subjectivity constitution.'---Roberta Sassatelli, University Of Milan<BR><BR>The second edition of Consumer Culture brings this successful introductory textbook right up-to-date for students who are interested in the nature and role of consumption in modern societies. It introduces the importance of new object-based studies for consumer culture, as well as adding new chapters on branding and the rise of ethical consumption.<BR><BR>Drawing on a wide range of studies, and using contemporary illustrations from the media and popular culture, the author examines the rise of consumer culture and the changing relations between the production and consumption of cultural goods. She argues that consumer culture has become increasingly stylized and now provides an important context for everyday creativity.<BR><BR>The author explores the way an individual's position in social groups structured by class, gender and race affects the nature of his or her participation in consumer culture. She also argues that this has contributed to changes in the way individuals belong to these social groups. The powerful role consumption plays in our lives is thus revealed, showing how consumer culture provides new ways of creating social and political identities.