Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction : space, time and value in consuming cultures / John Brewer and Frank Trentmann -- The modern genealogy of the consumer : meanings, identities and political synapses / Frank Trentmann -- Brand management and the productivity of consumption / Adam Arvidsson -- On the movement of porcelains : rethinking the birth of consumer society as interactions of exchange networks, 1600-1750 / Robert Batchelor -- Consumer culture and extractive industry on the margins of the world system / Richard Wilk -- "Flowers of paradise" or "Polluting the nation"? Contested narratives of Khat consumption / David M. Anderson and Neil Carrier -- Chewing gum : mass consumption and the 'shadow-lands' of the Yucatan / Michael R. Redclift -- Japan's post war "consumer revolution", or striking a "balance" between consumption and saving / Sheldon Garon -- Virtue, responsibility and consumer choice : framing critical consumerism / Roberta Sassatelli -- Negotiations with the American way : the consumer and the social contract in post-war Europe / Sheryl Kroen -- Emerging global water welfarism : access to water, unruly consumers and transnational governance / Bronwen Morgan.