Shop 'til You Drop

Consumer Behavior and American Culture

By (author) Arthur Asa Berger

Publication date:

02 December 2004

Length of book:

152 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

234x183mm
7x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742536906

Are Americans obsessed with shopping? Shop 'til You Drop is a lively look at our consumer culture and its role in our everyday lives and society. Is the United States different from other first-world nations in the amount of time we spend shopping or in our attitudes toward consumption? Are we one unified consumer culture or are several cultures operating and battling against one another? Arthur Asa Berger uncovers the answers to these and other questions, considering the sacred roots of consumer culture, the demographics of consumption, theories about competing cultures, and the semiotics of shopping. Accessibly written and entertaining, Shop 'til You Drop is ideal for courses in cultural studies, advertising, and American studies, as well as for anyone curious about our nation's drive to consume.

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 Preface
Chapter 3 1 What Are Consumer Cultures?
Chapter 4 2 Data on Consumer Cultures
Chapter 5 3 The Act of Consumption
Chapter 6 4 Perspectives on Consumption
Chapter 7 5 The Semiotics of Shopping
Chapter 8 6 Malls and the American Consumer Culture
Chapter 9 7 Tourism and Consumer Culture
Chapter 10 8 Buyer's Remorse
Chapter 11 References

This lively, well-formatted book moves quickly, explaining theories succinctly and profiling consumers' personalities, behaviors, and preferred shopping environments. In examining the cultural aspects of shopping, Berger's unique work looks at the changing demographics and psychographics of today's consumers, comparing the role of modern department stores to that of medieval cathedrals. Highly recommended.