Beyond consumer capitalism : media and the limits to imagination / Justin Lewis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewis, Justin, 1958- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism and mass media.

Consumption (Economics).

Physical Description:

vi, 232 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Polity, 2013.

Summary:

Consumer capitalism dominates our economy, our politics and our culture. Yet there is a growing body of research from a range of disciplines that suggests that consumer capitalism may be past its sell-by date. Beyond Consumer Capitalism begins by showing how, for people in the developed world, consumer capitalism has become economically and environmentally unsustainable and is no longer able to deliver its abiding promise of enhancing quality of life. This cutting-edge book then asks why we devote so little time and effort to imagining other forms of human progress. The answer, Lewis suggests, is that our cultural and information industries limit rather than stimulate critical thinking, keeping us on the treadmill of consumption and narrowing our vision of what constitutes progress. If we are to find a way out of this cul de sac, Lewis argues, we must begin by analysing the role of media in consumer capitalism and changing the way we organize media and communications. We need a cultural environment that encourages rather than stifles new ideas about what guides our economy and our society. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : The problems of consumer capitalism in the twenty-first century : and why we find it so difficult to appreciate them

Consumer capitalism as a cul-de-sac

The environmental, economic and social constraints of consumer capitalism

The insatiable age

Tales of sales : the politics of advertising

Disposable news and democracy : rethinking the way we report the world

Disposable news, consumerism and growth

Obsessed with obsolescence : confusing hyper-consumption with progress

Imagining a different world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-222) and index.

ISBN:

9780745650234

0745650236

0745650244

9780745650241

OCLC:

847541924