In October 2006, an international conference titled "The Politics of Consumption/The Consumption of Politics" drew leading scholars from Europe and North America. Using theory and research, the conference spurred lively discussion as well as the insightful papers included in this special volume of The ANNALS.
Drawing from a myriad of disciplines, including political science, sociology, communication, media studies, and economics, this volume is a must-have for scholars, professionals, and policymakers who want to better understand modern consumer society and its implications for the political and civic arena.

Introduction: The Politics of Consumption / The Consumption of Politics - Dhavan V. Shah, Douglas M. McLeod, Lewis Friedland, and Michelle R. Nelson
In Defense of Consumer Critique: Revisiting the Consumption Debates of the Twentieth Century - Juliet B. Schor
Capital, Consumption, Communication, and Citizenship: The Social Positioning of Taste and Civic Culture in the United States - Lewis Friedland, Dhavan V. Shah, Nam-Jin Lee, Mark A. Rademacher, Lucy Atkinson, and Thomas Hove
Representing Citizens and Consumers in Media and Communications Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
Consumers and the State since the Second World War - Matthew Hilton
Buying into Downtown Revival: The Centrality of Retail to Postwar Urban Renewal in American Cities - Lizabeth Cohen
Should Consumer Citizens Escape the Market? - Eric J. Arnould
A Carnivalesque Approach to the Politics of Consumption (or) Grotesque Realism and the Analytics of the Excretory Economy - Craig J. Thompson
Why Not Share Rather Than Own? - Russell Belk
Downshifting Consumer = Upshifting Citizen? An Examination of a Local Freecycle Community - Michelle R. Nelson, Mark A. Rademacher, and Hye-Jin Paek
Mobilizing Consumers to Take Responsibility for Global Social Justice - Michele Micheletti and Dietlind Stolle
Political Brands and Consumer Citizens: The Rebranding of Tony Blair - Margaret Scammell
Logo Logic: The Ups and Downs of Branded Political Communication - W. Lance Bennett and Taso Lagos
Digital Renaissance: Young Consumer and Citizen? - Claes H. de Vreese
Political Consumerism: How Communication and Consumption Orientations Drive "Lifestyle Politics" - Dhavan V. Shah, Douglas M. McLeod, Eunkyung Kim, Sun Young Lee, Melissa Gotlieb, Shirley S. Ho, and Hilde Brevik
Citizens, Consumers, and the Good Society - Michael Schudson
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