Theory of Shopping

by Daniel Miller

Book Overview

The butt of endless jokes and the focus of considerable anguish, shopping offers significant insights into contemporary social relations and their nuances. This book is about shopping for ordinary things. It is also about love and devotion manifest within families and about the nature of sacrificial ritual. A significant contributor to material culture studies, Daniel Miller is an acute observer and an exceptional storyteller. He approaches shopping...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801485517
• ISBN13: 9780801485510
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An extremely accessible academic text

I couldn't believe it when I laughed out loud whilst reading this text. A strong theoretical base supports this amusing ethnography of shopping - the sort that is done week in, week out, rather than 'leisure' shopping. I highly recommend reading it from cover to cover, rather than trying to skim it as one might other academic texts. It will be of use to anyone studying material culture, social anthropology, and sociology, in that it indicates clearly not only its specific content, but also its methodology. Reading this text makes Miller's classic "Material Culture and Mass Consumption" a lot more accessible to those of us who are just starting to research this area.