1. Abundance, scarcity and sufficiency -- 2. The institution of marketing -- 3. Socio-cultural consumption -- 4. Subjective consumption -- 5. Cognitive consumption -- 6. The role of markets -- 7. Implications.

"Time for Things seeks an answer to the question of why, in mature industrial capitalist societies, increasing productivity has tended to get used to increase output and consumption as opposed to reducing the burden of work. Put simply, why do we live in a world so full of goods, many of which...

"The history of consumption has experienced remarkable growth since the 1980s, driven by the interest of scholars in a variety of historical subdisciplines and other social scientific fields. This volume seeks to bring the resultant diversity of specialized approaches into one common discourse....

"Despite the abundance and quality of recent historical writing on consumerism, it cannot be said that the modern Co-operative movement (Co-op) has been well served. It has also been by-passed in studies that locate Britons' identity in their consumption. The reasons for this can be found in the...

"Consumed is a forward-thinking look at how shoppers--and consumption--have changed, now and for the foreseeable future, and how businesses must rethink their strategies in order to thrive in this new economic landscape. A worldwide study by the authors found the following: - More than a quarter...