Life is not complete without shopping : consumption culture in Singapore / Chua Beng Huat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chua, Beng Huat.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Singapore.

Consumption (Economics).

Lifestyles--Singapore.

Lifestyles.

Social change--Singapore.

Social change.

Singapore.

Physical Description:

xii, 209 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Singapore : Singapore University Press, [2003]

Summary:

This book is a series of essays by Singaporean sociologist Chua Beng Huat, one of Asia's leading commentators on the sociology of shopping and consumption. They are explorations of the consumption experience in Singapore, whether that be hanging out at the town center McDonalds, riding the escalator at Ngee Ann City, or learning how to look at price tags at Prada. Why do powerful women wear cheongsam? What is the symbolic significance of Peranakan food in Singapore? What do locally-made films say about class in Singapore? This collection of essays combines keen sociological analysis and sharp observation. Chua looks beyond the bill-boards and the TV commercials to examine how Singaporeans constitute their social reality in an environment steeped in global consumer imagery.

Contents:

Framing Singapore's consumption culture

The emerging culture of consumption

Bodies in shopping centres

Steps to becoming a fashion consumer

On the power cheongsam and other ethnic clothes

Food, ethnicity, and nation

Singaporeans ingesting McDonald's

Japanese influence in Singapore

Taiwan's future/Singapore's past

Cinematic critique from the margins and the mainstream.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9971692724

OCLC:

53467933