Playing the consumption game
- 1 January 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Consumption Markets & Culture
- Vol. 1 (1) , 7-29
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.1997.9670289
Abstract
Drawing upon and exploring the analogy between play and consumption, a number of themes in the theory of consumption are developed. These include a critical assessment of the contribution of neoclassical economics, particularly to the explanation of addiction; the need to understand consumption by reference to differentiated systems of provision; the relationship between domestic labor and the commercialization of consumption; and the relevance of socioeconomic approaches to anorexia and to the gendering of consumption more generally. By playing the consumption game, it is argued that society‐wide theories of consumption should be rejected as being oversimplified, over‐generalized and lacking sufficient depth in covering the range of causal factors involved and the variety of ways in which they are integrated with one another. An interdisciplinary alternative is posed focusing upon the systems of provision attached to particular items of consumption.Keywords
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