Amazon.com description: Product Description: In the affluent economy of the 1990s, consumer culture is becoming increasingly removed from the functionalism of satisfying primary physical needs and moving towards an indulgence of 'taste' - the acts and arts of appreciation. Taste Today , the winner of the International Robert Maxwell Prize for New Writing on Design Thinking , aims to redirect the attention of designers, marketeers and consumers to the subjective factors which underlie the choice and purchase of possessions. Combining critical studies from the history of art and design with recent advances in sociological and psychological theory in consumer behaviour, Taste Today provides a unique account of the concept of 'taste' in contemporary consumer society. Over 200 black and white illustrations and 50 colour photographs form a unique visual parallel to the text. An extensive bibliography including approximately 400 notes and references offers a useful source of information on related topics.