Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Obama and the Spectacle in an Era of Diminishing Consumption

by nathan jurgenson Less Credit/Less Consumption Consumption is down. While this might be a momentary hiccup, it could very well be the case that Western societies will have to “reset” and pull back on consumption levels for a long time to come. Much of the consumption literature has pointed to Western conspicuous and hyper-consumption as an integral ethic of modern society. We have been consuming well beyond our means by relying on debt to fuel our consumer economy, an unsustainable...