Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption: Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos

by George Ritzer

In this book, one of the leading social theorists and cultural commentators of modern times, turns his gaze on consumption. George Ritzer, author of the famous McDonaldization Thesis , demonstrates the irrational consequences of the rational desire to consume and commodify. He examines how McDonaldization might be resisted, and situates the reader in the new cultural spaces that are emerging in shopping malls, casino hotels, Disneyfied theme parks and Las Vegas -- the new `cathedrals of consumption′ as he calls them. The book shows how new processes of consumption relate to globalization theory. In illuminating discussions of the work of Thorstein Veblen and the French situationists, Ritzer unearths the roots of problems of consumption in older sociological traditions. He indicates how transgression is bound up with consumption, through an investigation of the obscene in popular and postmodern culture.            

Genres: Sociology

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He has named at Distinguished-Scholar Teacher at Maryland and received the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award. Among his academic awards are an Honorary Doctorate from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Honorary Patron, University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin; and the 2012-2013 Robin William Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. He has chaired four Sections of the American Sociological Association- Theoretical Sociology, Organizations and Occupations, first Chair of Global and Transnational Sociology, and the History of Sociology.
His books have been translated into over twenty languages, with over a dozen translations of The McDonaldization of Society alone.