Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Marketing and retail from the modern period until the postwar era of mass consumption -- Market fragmentation and globalization -- Consumption, status, and class -- Gender and race at the margins and center of consumption -- The life course -- Consumer citizenship and the nation-state -- Consumer citizenship in the era of globalization -- Conclusion.

The Sociology of Consumption: A Global Approach offers college students, scholars, and interested readers a state–of–the–art overview of consumption the desire for, purchase, use, display, exchange, and disposal of goods and services. The book s global focus, emphasis on social inequality, and analysis of consumer citizenship offer a timely, exciting, and original approach to the topic. Looking beyond the U.S. and Europe, Stillerman engages examples from his and others research in Chile and other Latin American countries, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and East and South Asia to explore the interaction between global and local forces in consumption. The text explores the lived experience of being a consumer, demonstrating how social inequalities based on class, gender, sexuality, race, and age shape consumer practices and identities. Finally, the book uncovers the important role consumption has played in fueling local and international activism.