Cultural Consumption Everyday Life by John Storey

Cultural Consumption Everyday Life Reviews

• 
  Mervyn Tano

  This may seem a stretch but this is really about climate change and Indian tribes. Thus far, suggested tribal responses to climate change include undertaking emissions-capping approaches such green generation and carbon sequestration. These approaches are more than a bit silly. Realistically, Indian generated electricity is not going to move very far from the reservation and even if it could, the effect on carbon emissions would be infinitesimal.
  
  You are what you eat—and you are what you wear, what you drive, and where you live. Consumption shapes identity. Consumption also shapes energy demand and therefore influences greenhouse gas emissions. As the first Americans to bear the burdens of climate change, my sense is that Native America, and especially Alaska Natives, would be better served to use that situation to claim the moral high ground and to exercise national and international leadership by spreading the gospel of a new culture of consumption—a culture focused on reducing demand. If this is to occur, we'll need a better understanding of the theoretical and operational framework of consumption. Thus, John Storey's Cultural Consumption and Everyday Life.
  
  The book is a survey of theories of cultural consumption and not an introduction to the subject although Storey, in his first chapter, briefly sets out the historical role of consumption. The reader who believes, as I do, that all forms of consumption and therefore, all forms of production and service are, to one degree or another, cultural, will not be dissuaded. The book does a good job of examining the historical work on the consumption of culture and outlining different theories. It does an excellent job in directing further reading in this arena.
• 
  Mark Johnson

  Reading it for my M.A. tutorial tonight. And seeing as my tutor is the author, I'd better give it 5 *s.