How does cultural hierarchy relate to social hierarchy? Do the more advantaged consume 'high' culture, while the less advantaged consume popular culture? Or has cultural consumption in contemporary societies become individualised to such a degree that there is no longer any social basis for cultural consumption? Leading scholars from the UK, the USA, Chile, France, Hungary and the Netherlands systematically examine the social stratification of arts and culture. They evaluate the 'class-culture homology argument' of Pierre Bourdieu and Herbert Gans; the 'individualisation arguments' of Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Zygmunt Bauman; and the 'omnivore-univore argument' of Richard Peterson. They also demonstrate that, consistent with Max Weber's class-status distinction, cultural consumption, as a key element of lifestyle, is stratified primarily on the basis of social status rather than by social class.
In the last two years, consumers have experienced massive changes in consumption – whether due to shifts in habits; the changing information landscape; challenges to their identity, or new economic experiences of scarcity or abundance. What can we expect from these experiences? How are the world's leading thinkers applying both foundational knowledge and novel insights as we seek to understand consumer psychology in a constantly changing landscape? And how can informed readers both contribute to and evaluate our knowledge? This handbook offers a critical overview of both fundamental topics in consumer psychology and those that are of prominence in the contemporary marketplace, beginning with an examination of individual psychology and broadening to topics related to wider cultural and marketplace systems. The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology, 2nd edition, will act as a valuable guide for teachers and graduate and undergraduate students in psychology, marketing, management, economics, sociology, and anthropology.
Rather than treating concepts and their application in a static and iconic manner,Concepts in Action provides us with examples of the active and creative use of concepts for constructing and generating new knowledge. Examples of theoretic constructions and topics discussed refers to the function of theory in main stream sociology; concepts enabling us to expand the range of interpretations; a critical view and approach to general concepts of culture, nature and consumption; concepts dealing with organization, institutions and actors; and examples of travelling concepts such as class, gender, race and social recognition. Concepts in Action follows on the earlier Theory in Action (2016) as part of a three volume project broadening our understanding of the interplay of theory and methods. The forthcoming third volume will focus on the strategy of constructing and analyzing the object in social science. This volume is highly relevant for researchers and students interested in theoretical construction in the social sciences. Contributors are: Göran Ahrne, Mette Andersson, Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen, Anne Britt Flemmen, Antje Gimmler, Willy Guneriussen, Roar Hagen, Raimund Hasse, Håkon Leiulfsrud, Willy Martinussen, John Scott, Peter Sohlberg, Pål Strandbakken, Richard Swedberg and Erik Olin Wright.
Consumption research is burgeoning across a wide range of disciplines. The Routledge Handbook on Consumption gathers experts from around the world to provide a nuanced overview of the latest scholarship in this expanding field. At once ambitious and timely, the volume provides an ideal map for those looking to position their work, find new analytic insights and identify research gaps. With an intuitive thematic structure and resolutely international outlook, it engages with theory and methodology; markets and businesses; policies, politics and the state; and culture and everyday life. It will be essential reading for students and scholars across the social and economic sciences.
This book analyses how consumer food choices have undergone profound changes in the context of the economic crisis, including the rediscovery of local products and the diffusion of multi-ethnic food. Corvo argues that a new ecological relationship between food and the environment is needed to reduce food problems such as food waste and obesity.
Instead of the logic of representation of fashion in the light of modern society and postmodern culture, this book argues that contemporary fashion should be regarded as a performative-conceptual turn in the very core of body iconograms. The text presents a theoretical perspective of the phenomenon of fashion within fashion theory as establishing a new approach from visual semiotics. Through this lens, fashion, therefore, emerges as a visual code of contemporary societies and cultures in the networked matrices of hyperreality and visions of that coming time that will determine the combination of cybernetics, fetishism and transgression.
Theoretically, the formational and developmental mechanism of Shanzhai Model (the Chintrepreneurship, the China-way of Doing Business) theorized in this text, in addition to complying with the traditionally Western dominated frameworks of risk-taking-oriented, technology-oriented, resource-oriented, and speculation-oriented – also creates the peculiar or updated characteristics, complementary and supplementary to the existing theories of entrepreneurship and strategic management. The peculiar characteristics of Shanzhai Model may be attributed to the government policy guidance, from macroeconomic level, to technology development level, and to market expansion level, through the regulated cycle process of CCP government ‘Five-Year-Plan’. Such a dynamic process of government policy system determines the dynamisms of China economy, industry and enterprises, linking the previous weaknesses into the upgrade or rectification of the next five-year-plan, forcing enterprises to obligately upgrade or adjust their business and management operations (given the absolute autocracy of China government). Practically, the imitation-based cost-saving operations on the enterprise level, the ‘Wolf Like’ clustered industry-chain operations organized by the principle of ‘Risks-Resources-Benefits Sharing’ on the industry level, and the ‘Price-to-Performance’ products advantages on the market level – together, they have been contributing to the leapfrog of China economy, by taking advantages of increasingly globalized business environment and the network (Internet) information technology system, turning China into an economic Shanzhai, corruption Shanzhai, and a political Shanzhai, imposing the ‘One Belt One Road’ hegemonism on the harmony of international community. Is it too late? The contribution of this text material may benefit MBA, Ph.D students in management, and especially benefiting to those corporate executives. Regardless of De-Globalization or De-China campaigns, the flow of business is inevitably and eternally beyond the boundaries of countries one way or another, sooner or later. Note that, a document of year-to-year government policies is prepared, interested, contact Dr. Johnny by email: [email protected]; or by phone: 001-604-773-0783, or 001-778-655-1016.
The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Poverty builds a common scholarly ground in the study of poverty by bringing together an international, inter-disciplinary group of scholars to provide their perspectives on the issue. Contributors engage in discussions about the leading theories and conceptual debates regarding poverty, the most salient topics in poverty research, and the far-reaching consequences of poverty on the individual and societal level.
Aage Sorensen was an influential intellectual presence who was one of the world's leading authorities on social stratification and the sociology of education. His research sought to understand the structures, dynamics and mechanisms that underlie inequalities in industrial societies by focusing on how individuals' attainments are shaped by characteristics of a society's or organization's opportunity structure, on the one hand, and individuals' education, experience and other human capital resources, on the other. He emphasized inequalities associated with education and schooling, class, and stratification outcomes such as income and occupational status. Within these general foci, he tackled the study of phenomena as diverse as rates of learning in elementary school reading groups and promotion patterns in large industrial corporations. The chapters of this volume illustrate some of the major themes that characterized Aage's research; these topics are also likely to constitute important concerns for future efforts to understand structured social inequality in society. These themes include: the development of explicit dynamic models to account for observed patterns of education, career, and labor market outcomes; aspects of educational inequality such as school effects and learning opportunities; issues related to intragenerational mobility and careers; and the role of rents in generating structural inequality.
Millions of human beings the world over survive in conditions of poverty and social exclusion, and this is unlikely to change in the years to come. This grave situation affects the whole of humanity, which cannot and must not shut its eyes to it. Social exclusion is spreading so much that it is becoming one of the keys to understanding the economic and social situation of the world today. This book attempts to deciper the concept of social exclusion. It aims to identify, analyse and measure exclusion and make it more visible. It also aims to provide a detailed overview of those involved and their initiatives.
