Carefully analyzing the impact of the rise of consumer society it deftly argues that the saturation of the modern ideals of progress, individualism, and the democratic state has limited lifestyle regulation to stressing the self-responsibility of individuals within a free market. The book critically examines:Neo-Liberal ideology and the free marketThe Sociology of ModernityThe New Consumer SocietyCitizenship in Mass SocietyThe power of AutonomyThe interaction of Regulation and Agency

Product Description: This work argues that the coming of "a new consumerism" in the affluent societies marks a distinct phase of modernity. Limits of production no longer confine consumption to what is necessarty or instrumental. Demands for increasing production no longer shape ideology and culture as they did previously...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Based on literature and on field research of tribal communities in public drinking places of a modern Western European capital (Helsinki), this book analyzes the new middle class mentality, which is one of the main components of the cultural condition of contemporary Western European countries...read more