A social and economic theory of consumption

Kaj Ilmonen was a pioneer in the third wave of the sociology of consumption in the 1970s; an original and erudite scholar and sociological theorist. This book provides a balanced overview of the sociology of consumption, reaching out towards its current and future development. The author's argument is that the enthusiasm of 'the third wave' exaggerated the role of the symbolic and imaginary at the expense of the materiality of human societies. Going back to Marx he reminds us that consumption should be seen as part of the metabolism between nature and human societies, with specific characteristics in modern capitalism. In a curious way, affluent societies highlight features of the fundamental mechanisms of the social bond, such as gift exchange. Even money, the institution that we associate with calculative rationality, obeys laws that violate the rules of equivalent exchange and quantitative measurement.

Kaj Ilmonen was a pioneer in the third wave of the sociology of consumption. This book provides a balanced overview of the sociology of consumption, arguing that the enthusiasm of 'the third wave' exaggerated the role of the symbolic and imaginary at the expense of the materiality of human societies.