Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World [Hardcover]

Tim Kasser (Author), Allen D. Kanner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Psychology and Consumer Culture provides an in-depth psychological analysis of consumerism that draws from a wide range of theoretical, clinical, and methodological approaches. The contributors to this edited volume demonstrate that consumerism and the culture that surrounds it exert profound and often undesirable effects on both people's individual lives and on society as a whole. Far from being distant influences, advertising, consumption, materialism, and the capitalistic economic system affect personal, social, and ecological well being on many levels. Authors address consumerism's effect on everything from culture, ethnicity, and childhood development to consciousness, gender roles, identity, work stress, and psychopathology. Contributors provide a variety of potential interventions for counteracting the negative influence of consumerism on individuals and on society. The book makes a strong case that, despite psychology's past reticence to investigate issues related to consumerism, such topics are crucial to understanding human life in the contemporary age.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 297 pages
• Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA); 1 edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591470463
• ISBN-13: 978-1591470465
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very important book, November 30, 2007

By 

Jason Trent - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World (Hardcover)

For those interested in psychology, sociology, and our culture, this is a very important book that deals with issues that we as a society somehow overlook, much to our detriment.