Eschatology, promise, hope: the Utopian vision of consumer research

Explores the idea of the Utopian vision of consumer research through eschatology, which seeks to establish a new version of reality of consumers and which exposes existing inadequacies in our knowledge and understanding. Promise and hope depict an orientation to the future implicit in the exegesis of eschatology. The discussion is predicated on this optimistic and liberating view of eschatology as a break in the past, rather than the end of all things. Explores our understanding of what is meant by consumption and the influences which have shaped what is viewed as our knowledge base, especially with regard to the role and experience of women as consumers. Examines the possibility that consumer research is in crisis and that the new reason must prevail in order to overcome the inadequacy of existing theory and seeks new directions.