Inconspicuous Consumption

Author : Tatiana Schlossberg
Publisher : Balance
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2019-08-27
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781538747094

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Inconspicuous Consumption by Tatiana Schlossberg Pdf

*First Place Winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award* "If you're looking for something to cling to in what often feels like a hopeless conversation, Schlossberg's darkly humorous, knowledge-is-power, eyes-wide-open approach may be just the thing."--Vogue From a former New York Times science writer, this urgent call to action will empower you to stand up to climate change and environmental pollution by making simple but impactful everyday choices. With urgency and wit, Tatiana Schlossberg explains that far from being only a distant problem of the natural world created by the fossil fuel industry, climate change is all around us, all the time, lurking everywhere in our convenience-driven society, all without our realizing it. By examining the unseen and unconscious environmental impacts in four areas-the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel - Schlossberg helps readers better understand why climate change is such a complicated issue, and how it connects all of us: How streaming a movie on Netflix in New York burns coal in Virginia; how eating a hamburger in California might contribute to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico; how buying an inexpensive cashmere sweater in Chicago expands the Mongolian desert; how destroying forests from North Carolina is necessary to generate electricity in England. Cataloging the complexities and frustrations of our carbon-intensive society with a dry sense of humor, Schlossberg makes the climate crisis and its solutions interesting and relevant to everyone who cares, even a little, about the planet. She empowers readers to think about their stuff and the environment in a new way, helping them make more informed choices when it comes to the future of our world. Most importantly, this is a book about the power we have as voters and consumers to make sure that the fight against climate change includes all of us and all of our stuff, not just industry groups and politicians. If we have any hope of solving the problem, we all have to do it together. "A compelling-and illuminating-look at how our daily habits impact the environment."--Vanity Fair "Shows how even the smallest decisions can have profound environmental consequences."--The New York Times

Author : Paul Lukas
Publisher : Three Rivers Press
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : STANFORD:36105012325168

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Inconspicuous Consumption by Paul Lukas Pdf

From kitschy novelties and wildly unappetizing food products to beautifully functional items such as garlic presses and toothpick dispensers, Inconspicuous Consumption is a delightful celebration of the sometimes elegant, sometimes ridiculous fringes of our late-20th-century culture. 50 photos. 192 pp. Author interviews & national radio campaign. National publicity. 15,000 print.

Author : Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2017-05-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781400884698

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The Sum of Small Things by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett Pdf

How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

Author : Rodrigues, Paula,Borges, Ana Pinto
Publisher : IGI Global
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2020-10-23
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781799843702

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Building Consumer-Brand Relationship in Luxury Brand Management by Rodrigues, Paula,Borges, Ana Pinto Pdf

Luxury is no longer a privilege of the high-net-worth individuals. It is now accessible to all. This has become possible because the essence of luxury has changed: from something based upon materialism and conspicuous and hedonic consumption to one that embraces enrichment and experiences for the consumers. This evolution creates challenges for luxury brands and for the managers of luxury brands. Building Consumer-Brand Relationship in Luxury Brand Management is a collection of innovative research that focuses on the conception and marketing of luxury as an experience and explores more integrative and comprehensive approaches to modeling and understanding the consumer-brand relationship with luxury brands and their sustainability in a global and multicultural world. Highlighting a broad range of topics including digital marketing, consumer demand, and social responsibility, this book is ideally designed for marketers, brand managers, consumer analysts, advertisers, entrepreneurs, executives, researchers, academicians, and students.

Author : Lilach Gilady
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2018-03-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780226433349

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The Price of Prestige by Lilach Gilady Pdf

If wars are costly and risky to both sides, why do they occur? Why engage in an arms race when it’s clear that increasing one’s own defense expenditures will only trigger a similar reaction by the other side, leaving both countries just as insecure—and considerably poorer? Just as people buy expensive things precisely because they are more expensive, because they offer the possibility of improved social status or prestige, so too do countries, argues Lilach Gilady. In The Price of Prestige, Gilady shows how many seemingly wasteful government expenditures that appear to contradict the laws of demand actually follow the pattern for what are known as Veblen goods, or positional goods for which demand increases alongside price, even when cheaper substitutes are readily available. From flashy space programs to costly weapons systems a country does not need and cannot maintain to foreign aid programs that offer little benefit to recipients, these conspicuous and strategically timed expenditures are intended to instill awe in the observer through their wasteful might. And underestimating the important social role of excess has serious policy implications. Increasing the cost of war, for example, may not always be an effective tool for preventing it, Gilady argues, nor does decreasing the cost of weapons and other technologies of war necessarily increase the potential for conflict, as shown by the case of a cheap fighter plane whose price tag drove consumers away. In today’s changing world, where there are high levels of uncertainty about the distribution of power, Gilady also offers a valuable way to predict which countries are most likely to be concerned about their position and therefore adopt costly, excessive policies.

Author : Randee Dawn
Publisher : Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Page : 423 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2022-08-18
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781786186317

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Tune in Tomorrow by Randee Dawn Pdf

She’s just a small town girl, with big mythic dreams. Starr Weatherby came to New York to become… well, a star. But after ten years and no luck, she’s offered a big role – on a show no one has ever heard of. And there’s a reason for that. It’s a ‘reality’ show beyond the Veil, human drama, performed for the entertainment of the Fae. But as Starr shifts from astounded newcomer to rising fan favorite, she learns about the show’s dark underbelly – and mysterious disappearance of her predecessor. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep her dream job – though she might just bring down the show in the process.

Author : THORSTEIN. VEBLEN
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 103305769X

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THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS by THORSTEIN. VEBLEN Pdf

Author : Charles Camic
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 505 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2020-11-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780674659728

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Veblen by Charles Camic Pdf

A bold new biography of the thinker who demolished accepted economic theories in order to expose how people of economic and social privilege plunder their wealth from society’s productive men and women. Thorstein Veblen was one of America’s most penetrating analysts of modern capitalist society. But he was not, as is widely assumed, an outsider to the social world he acidly described. Veblen overturns the long-accepted view that Veblen’s ideas, including his insights about conspicuous consumption and the leisure class, derived from his position as a social outsider. In the hinterlands of America’s Midwest, Veblen’s schooling coincided with the late nineteenth-century revolution in higher education that occurred under the patronage of the titans of the new industrial age. The resulting educational opportunities carried Veblen from local Carleton College to centers of scholarship at Johns Hopkins, Yale, Cornell, and the University of Chicago, where he studied with leading philosophers, historians, and economists. Afterward, he joined the nation’s academic elite as a professional economist, producing his seminal books The Theory of the Leisure Class and The Theory of Business Enterprise. Until late in his career, Veblen was, Charles Camic argues, the consummate academic insider, engaged in debates about wealth distribution raging in the field of economics. Veblen demonstrates how Veblen’s education and subsequent involvement in those debates gave rise to his original ideas about the social institutions that enable wealthy Americans—a swarm of economically unproductive “parasites”—to amass vast fortunes on the backs of productive men and women. Today, when great wealth inequalities again command national attention, Camic helps us understand the historical roots and continuing reach of Veblen’s searing analysis of this “sclerosis of the American soul.”

Author : Cait Lamberton,Derek D. Rucker,Stephen A. Spiller
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 873 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2023-04-06
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781009243940

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The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology by Cait Lamberton,Derek D. Rucker,Stephen A. Spiller Pdf

In the last two years, consumers have experienced massive changes in consumption – whether due to shifts in habits; the changing information landscape; challenges to their identity, or new economic experiences of scarcity or abundance. What can we expect from these experiences? How are the world's leading thinkers applying both foundational knowledge and novel insights as we seek to understand consumer psychology in a constantly changing landscape? And how can informed readers both contribute to and evaluate our knowledge? This handbook offers a critical overview of both fundamental topics in consumer psychology and those that are of prominence in the contemporary marketplace, beginning with an examination of individual psychology and broadening to topics related to wider cultural and marketplace systems. The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology, 2nd edition, will act as a valuable guide for teachers and graduate and undergraduate students in psychology, marketing, management, economics, sociology, and anthropology.

Author : David Kuchta
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2002-05-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520214934

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The Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity by David Kuchta Pdf

In 1666 King Charles II introduced a fashion that developed into the three-piece suit. This text examines the inspiration behind this royal revolution in masculine attire.

Author : Bioware
Publisher : Dark Horse Comics
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2017-02-25
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781506702834

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Dragon Age Adult Colouring Book by Bioware Pdf

The beautiful worlds of Dragon Age are yours to explore in this amazing new coloring book, including forty-five fantastic original black-and-white illustrations of unforgettable characters and iconic scenes from the entire award-winning trilogy--each specifically crafted to be colored in any way that you choose! Thrill to the exploits of Alistair, Morrigan, Varric, and the rest, and adventure alongside them on your own journey of creativity! Whether you're a casual fan of fantasy, or the Herald of Andraste themself, the Dragon Age Adult Coloring Book is not to be missed! The official Dragon Age coloring book! Color your favorite moments taken straight from the game! Includes forty-five pieces of beautifully detailed black and white artwork! A must-have for any Dragon Age fan! Printed on high-quality stock with a lay-flat binding!

Author : Robert H. Frank
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2001-04-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780743223409

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Luxury Fever by Robert H. Frank Pdf

A new luxury fever has America in its grip. Independent of stock prices, recessions, and inflation rates, the past two decades have witnessed a spectacular and uninterrupted rise in luxury consumption. Ordinary, functional goods are no longer acceptable. Our cars have gotten larger, heavier, and far more expensive. Mansions larger than 30,000 square feet no longer seem extravagant. Wristwatches for the super-rich cost tens of thousands of dollars. We are living in an era of excess. Consider: The average house built in the United States today is nearly twice as large as its counterpart from the 1950s. Even as houses have gotten more expensive and farther from the workplace, there has been a sharp increase in second-home ownership. The average price of an automobile sold in the United States now exceeds $22,000, up more than 75 percent from a decade ago. Total U.S. spending on luxury goods increased 21 percent between 1995 and 1996 (typical of recent years), while overall merchandise sales increased only 5 percent. Robert Frank caused a national debate in 1995 when he and co-author Philip Cook described the poisonous spread of "winner-take-all" markets. Now he takes a thought-provoking look at the flip side of spreading inequality: as the super-rich set the pace, everyone else spends furiously in a competitive echo of wastefulness. The costs are enormous: We spend more time at work, leaving less time for family and friends, less time for exercise. Most of us have been forced to save less and spend and borrow much more. The annual rate at which American families file for personal bankruptcy has grown to one in seventy. Budgetary pressures have reduced our willingness to fund even essential public services: Our food and water are increasingly contaminated. Potholes proliferate, and traffic delays double every ten years. Frank offers the first comprehensive and accessible summary of scientific evidence that our spending choices are not making us as happy and healthy as they could. Furthermore, he argues that human frailty is not at fault. The good news is that we can do something about it. We can make it harder for the super-rich to overspend, and capture our own competitive energy for the public good. Luxury Fever boldly offers a way to curb the excess and restore the true value of money.

Author : Robert Levine
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 347 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-10-25
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780385533775

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Free Ride by Robert Levine Pdf

How did the newspaper, music, and film industries go from raking in big bucks to scooping up digital dimes? Their customers were lured away by the free ride of technology. Now, business journalist Robert Levine shows how they can get back on track. On the Internet, “information wants to be free.” This memorable phrase shaped the online business model, but it is now driving the media companies on whom the digital industry feeds out of business. Today, newspaper stocks have fallen to all-time lows as papers are pressured to give away content, music sales have fallen by more than half since file sharing became common, TV ratings are plum­meting as viewership migrates online, and publishers face off against Amazon over the price of digital books. In Free Ride, Robert Levine narrates an epic tale of value destruction that moves from the corridors of Congress, where the law was passed that legalized YouTube, to the dorm room of Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster; from the bargain-pricing dramas involving iTunes and Kindle to Google’s fateful decision to digitize first and ask questions later. Levine charts how the media industry lost control of its destiny and suggests innovative ways it can resist the pull of zero. Fearless in its reporting and analysis, Free Ride is the busi­ness history of the decade and a much-needed call to action.

Author : Evgenia Krasteva-Blagoeva
Publisher : Springer
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2018-10-25
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9783030002268

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Approaching Consumer Culture by Evgenia Krasteva-Blagoeva Pdf

​This fascinating collection analyzes the impact of Western consumer culture on local cultures and consumption in Southeast Europe and East Asia. Cultural, historical, economic and sociopolitical contexts are examined regarding buying behaviors, usage and customization practices and consumer activism, specifically in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania as cultures continue to evolve in the post-socialist era, and in China and Japan as a continuation of movements toward modernity and progress. Surprising and thought-provoking contrasts stand out as consumers balance the global with the local in terms of clothing, technology, luxury items, and food. All chapters feature a wealth of empirical and cross-cultural data, and the presentation is framed by Professor Mike Featherstone’s theoretical essay on the origins of consumer culture and the consequences of two hundred years of increasing consumption for the human condition and the future of the planet. Included in the coverage: “You are a socialist child like me”: Goods and Identity in Bulgaria Consumer Culture from Socialist Yugoslavia to Post-Socialist Serbia: Movements and Moments Preserves Exiting Socialism: Authenticity, Anti-Standardization, and Middle-Class Consumption in Post-Socialist Romania Modernization and the Department Store in Early 20th-Century Japan: Modern Girl and New Consumer Culture Lifestyles A Cultural Reading of Conspicuous Consumption in China Approaching Consumer Culture broadens the cultural anthropology literature and will be welcomed by Western and Eastern scholars and researchers alike. Its depth and accessibility make it useful to university courses in cultural anthropology, cultural studies, and sociology.

Author : David Kuchta
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2002-05-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520921399

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The Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity by David Kuchta Pdf

In 1666, King Charles II felt it necessary to reform Englishmen's dress by introducing a fashion that developed into the three-piece suit. We learn what inspired this royal revolution in masculine attire--and the reasons for its remarkable longevity--in David Kuchta's engaging and handsomely illustrated account. Between 1550 and 1850, Kuchta says, English upper- and middle-class men understood their authority to be based in part upon the display of masculine character: how they presented themselves in public and demonstrated their masculinity helped define their political legitimacy, moral authority, and economic utility. Much has been written about the ways political culture, religion, and economic theory helped shape ideals and practices of masculinity. Kuchta allows us to see the process working in reverse, in that masculine manners and habits of consumption in a patriarchal society contributed actively to people's understanding of what held England together. Kuchta shows not only how the ideology of modern English masculinity was a self-consciously political and public creation but also how such explicitly political decisions and values became internalized, personalized, and naturalized into everyday manners and habits.