Consumption's Potent Political Purchase (or why the study of consumption is political)

Article

Nava, M. 2002. Consumption's Potent Political Purchase (or why the study of consumption is political). Times Higher Education.
AuthorsNava, M.
Abstract

This article, published in the Times Higher in response to a critique of cultural studies work on consumption, makes the case that the topic was for many years ignored or trivialised by social and political theorists because of the privileging of production and the neglect of demand; because of an elitist disdain for mass culture and the world of commerce, and because of its association with the labour and imagined pleasures of women. It goes on to describe the multi-pronged recovery of the subject and its centrality to feminist theory, to citizenship and to political activism.

Keywordsconsumption; cultural studies; cultures of consumption; media studies; Feminists; the Frankfurt School; Adorno; Horkheimer; advertising; modern commerce; mass culture; semiotics
JournalTimes Higher Education
ISSN0049-3929
Year2002
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY-ND
Web address (URL)http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=173710
Publication dates
Print20 Dec 2002
Publication process dates
Deposited06 Apr 2009
Additional information

Citation:
Nava, M. (2002) 'Consumption's potent political purchase (or why the study of consumption is political)' Times Higher Education 20 December 2002.

Permalink -

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/8695w

Log in to edit

Download files

Accepted author manuscript
Nava, M. (2002) Times Higher Education 20 Dec.pdf
License: CC BY-ND

  • 166
    total views
  • 75
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Labour silence on abuse uncovered in reports
Nava, M. 2023. Labour silence on abuse uncovered in reports. Chartist. 320, p. 22.
Trans and the Normalisation of Difference
Nava, M. 2022. Trans and the Normalisation of Difference. Chartist Publications.
Reviews: Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief By Greg Philo, Mike Berry, Justin Schlosberg, Antony Lerman and David Miller, Pluto Press 2019
Nava, M. 2020. Reviews: Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief By Greg Philo, Mike Berry, Justin Schlosberg, Antony Lerman and David Miller, Pluto Press 2019. Theory & Struggle. 121 (1), pp. 178-180. https://doi.org/10.3828/ts.2020.21
Looking Back: ‘1968’, Women’s Liberation and the Family
Nava, M. 2020. Looking Back: ‘1968’, Women’s Liberation and the Family. Free Associations. 78, pp. 66-84. https://doi.org/10.1234/fa.v0i78.335
Sexual Harassment, #MeToo and Feminism
Nava, M. 2018. Sexual Harassment, #MeToo and Feminism. Chartist. 290, pp. 16-17.
Consumerism reconsidered: Buying and power
Nava, M. 1991. Consumerism reconsidered: Buying and power. Cultural Studies. 5 (2), pp. 157-173.
Multicultural or cosmopolitan?
Nava, M. 2014. Multicultural or cosmopolitan? Society without Borders, TedxEast End 2014. Oval Space, Bethnal Green, London 18 Jan 2014 London TedxEastEnd.
American Anthropologist Ruth Landes and Race Relations Research in Postwar Britain: A Research File
Nava, M. 2013. American Anthropologist Ruth Landes and Race Relations Research in Postwar Britain: A Research File. London University of East London.
Consumerism and its Contradictions
Nava, M. 1987. Consumerism and its Contradictions. Cultural Studies. 1 (2), pp. 204-210.
Modernity tamed? Women shoppers and the rationalisation of consumption in the interwar period
Nava, M. 1995. Modernity tamed? Women shoppers and the rationalisation of consumption in the interwar period. Australian Journal of Communication. 22 (2), pp. 1-19.
Framing advertising: cultural analysis and the incrimination of visual texts
Nava, M. 1997. Framing advertising: cultural analysis and the incrimination of visual texts. in: Nava, Mica, Blake, Andrew, MacRury, Iain and Richards, Barry (ed.) Buy this Book: Studies in Advertising and Consumption London Routledge. pp. 34-50
Thoughts on Contextualising Practice
Nava, M. 2005. Thoughts on Contextualising Practice. Journal of Media Practice. 6 (3), pp. 179-184.
Is Shopping All Bad?
Nava, M. and Lawson, Neal 2010. Is Shopping All Bad? OurKingdom.
Cultural Studies, History and Cosmopolitanism in UK
Nava, M. 2013. Cultural Studies, History and Cosmopolitanism in UK. Culture Unbound. 5 (4), pp. 23-32.
Sometimes antagonistic, sometimes ardently sympathetic: Contradictory responses to migrants in postwar Britain
Nava, M. 2013. Sometimes antagonistic, sometimes ardently sympathetic: Contradictory responses to migrants in postwar Britain. Ethnicities. 14 (3), pp. 458-480. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796813508115
The cosmopolitanism of commerce and the allure of difference:Selfridges, the Russian Ballet and the tango 1911—1914
Nava, M. 1998. The cosmopolitanism of commerce and the allure of difference:Selfridges, the Russian Ballet and the tango 1911—1914. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 1 (2), p. 163.
Cosmopolitan Modernity: Everyday Imaginaries and the Register of Difference
Nava, M. 2002. Cosmopolitan Modernity: Everyday Imaginaries and the Register of Difference. Theory Culture Society.
Gender and Racial Others in Post-war Britain
Nava, M. 2006. Gender and Racial Others in Post-war Britain. Third Text. 20 (6).
Thinking Internationally, Thinking Sexually: Race in Postwar Fiction, Film and Social Science
Nava, M. 2007. Thinking Internationally, Thinking Sexually: Race in Postwar Fiction, Film and Social Science. in: Visceral Cosmopolitanism: Gender, Culture and the Normalisation of Difference Berg. pp. 97-120
A Love Song to our Mongrel Selves: Cosmopolitan Habitus and the Ordinariness of Difference
Nava, M. 2007. A Love Song to our Mongrel Selves: Cosmopolitan Habitus and the Ordinariness of Difference. in: Visceral Cosmopolitanism: Gender, Culture and the Normalisation of Difference Berg. pp. 133-164
Visceral Cosmopolitanism: Gender, Culture and the Normalisation of Difference
Nava, M. 2007. Visceral Cosmopolitanism: Gender, Culture and the Normalisation of Difference. Oxford Berg.
The Unconscious and Others: Rescue, Inclusivity and the Eroticisation of Difference 1930s Vienna
Nava, M. 2006. The Unconscious and Others: Rescue, Inclusivity and the Eroticisation of Difference 1930s Vienna. in: Bainbridge, C., Radstone, S., Rustin, M. and Yates, C. (ed.) Culture and the Unconscious London Palgrave. pp. 41-57
Domestic Cosmopolitanism and Structures of Feeling: the Specificity of London
Nava, M. 2006. Domestic Cosmopolitanism and Structures of Feeling: the Specificity of London. in: Yuval-Davis, N., Kannabiran, K. and Vieten, U. (ed.) The Situated Politics of Belonging London SAGE. pp. 42-53
Diana and Race: Romance and the Reconfiguration of the Nation
Nava, M. 1999. Diana and Race: Romance and the Reconfiguration of the Nation. in: Kear, A. and Steinberg, D. L. (ed.) Mourning Diana: Nation, Culture and the Performance of Grief Routledge. pp. 108-119
Wider Horizons and Modern Desire: The Contradictions of America and Racial Difference in London 1935-45
Nava, M. 1999. Wider Horizons and Modern Desire: The Contradictions of America and Racial Difference in London 1935-45. New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory, Politics. 37 (Spring), pp. 71-91.
'Modernity's Disavowal: Women the City and the Department Store
Nava, M. 1995. 'Modernity's Disavowal: Women the City and the Department Store. in: Nava, M. and O'Shea, A. (ed.) Modern Times: Reflections on a Century of Modernity Routledge. pp. 38-76