intros to sociology of consumption

Having read a few introductions to the sociology of consumption lately I can recommend the following: Peter Corrigan, The Sociology of Consumption, Celia Lury, Consumer Culture, Mark Paterson, Consumption and Everyday Life, and Roberta Sassatelli, Consumer Culture: history, theory and politics. The latter is probably the best overall and the most recent (07). Corrigan’s is the simplest (but still valuable). Here’s a quote from Sassatelli

‘As a normative cultural identity, the ‘consumer’ appears in striking continuity with hegemonic modern views of subjectivity. The dominant modern ideal of subjectivity depicts a unique and autonomous subject, independent of social contexts and material possessions which are in fact fundamental to the construction of identity.’