Shop 'til You Drop: Consumer Behavior and American Culture [Paperback]

Arthur Asa Berger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The number of malls in America has nearly doubled in the last 17 years, as has the amount of credit card debt. In this slim volume, Berger ponders this correlation and attempts to explain in great detail why the citizens of the most prosperous nation on Earth derive such joy from the mere act of consumption. Berger quotes French sociologist Jean Baudrillard, who explains that "in the consumption of surplus... the individual-and society-feel not merely that they exist, but that they are alive." Alternately dry and glib (his crudely drawn stickman cartoons with their thoughtful captions dot various chapters in the book), Berger explores the origins of "consumer culture" in an academic fashion and relies upon the work of social anthropologists to help unravel the mystery and motivation behind the urge to splurge. Whereas God once determined our actions, as stated by 18th-century Puritan writer Jonathan Edwards, it seems that ad agencies have now taken the place of the divine. While an analysis of shopping malls and their need to adapt to changing buying behaviors shows the resilience and creativity borne from capitalism, and the discussion of semiotics and cultural myths in advertising reveals how predictable the results of marketing manipulation can be on the buyer, the prevailing theme seems to be the effect of postmodernism on the American pursuit of happiness. The need to consume, Berger offers, once again citing Baudrillard, stems from the fear of missing something and an entitlement mindset that says one has the right to try everything. Though some of Berger's observations may interest the general reader, this dense analysis is largely for those who are serious about the study of consumerism.
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Review

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. (Choice )

In Shop 'Til You Drop, Berger covers everything on the subject of consumer culture from Calvinist perspectives on asceticism, to the mythical importance of houses, the feminization of men, and the death of shopping malls. The book appears to serve as a kind of 'catch-all' on consumer culture, defining, describing, and explaining consumer culture and behavior in sociological, psychological, philosophical, and anthropological terms. (Ecotheology Ecotheology Ecotheology )

In Shop 'til You Drop, Arthur Asa Berger has done it again. With a sense of humor and sagacious aplomb that is always just below the surface, he is nevertheless able to say profound and insightful things that make us reflect on things as they are. I know of no other work in the field of cultural studies that provides such a penetrating analysis of the roots of consumerism, unraveling its mythic-religious roots, its meaning structures, and its many ritualistic aspects. Berger's book has finally explained to me why shopping, in and of itself, holds such enormous appeal. It is one of those 'good reads' that entertains at the same time that it enlightens. (Marcel Danesi )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (November 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742536912
• ISBN-13: 978-0742536913
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Boston and kept moving west as I got educated: western Mass (the University of Mass at Amherst), Iowa (the University of Iowa in Iowa City), Minnesota (The Univ. of Minnesota) in Minneapolis). I landed a job teaching at San Francisco State and have been in the Bay Area since 1965. I've been married for 49 years, but it only seems like 47 or 48 years, to a former philosophy professor. I've kept a journal since 1956 and all my books have come out of the journals. I'm an artist and illustrate my books and books by other writers from time to time. I have two children and four grandchildren. Now, in 2009, I've got five books in various stages of publication:

1. Bali Tourism. Routledge. To be published in March, 2011 (I hope).

2. Japan Tourism: An Ethno-Semiotic Analysis. Published in 2010.

3. The Cultural Theorist's Book of Quotations. Published in 2010.

4. The Objects of Affection: Semiotics and Consumer Culture. 2010.

5. Seeing is Believing: An Introduction to Visual Communication. 4th
edition. To be published in 2011.