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von Weizsäcker, E. U., Lovins, A. B., & Lovins, L. H. (1997). Factor four . London:

Earthscan.

Westra, L., & Werhane, P. H. (Eds.) (1998). The business of consumption:

Environmental ethics and the global economy . Lanham, MD: Rowman and

Littlefield.

Laurie Michaelis

Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics and Society

Mansfield College, Oxford

Steven Miles: Consumerism – As a Way of Life. London: Sage, 1998.

ISBN 0-7619-5215-2. 192 pp. Cloth GBP 40.00, Paper GBP 15.99.

Miles adopts what has become a fairly typical structure for sociological

texts on consumption and consumer culture. The priority of the first

chapter is given to a short but now reasonably well rehearsed history

of consumer society, beginning with its European (English) bour-

geois roots and eventually emerging as a key force in post-war mass

society. After this considerate introduction, Chapter two sets out to

provide a brief historical overview of consumption thought, beginning

with the moderns Weber, Veblen and Simmel and moving on to

Baudrillard and Bourdieu. To some extent the chapter mirrors, both

in style and content, aspects of Miller’s (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption, although in far less depth but with considera-

tion of additional contributors to the field.

It is perhaps ironic that texts on consumer society seem to be

gradually commodifying the very subject matter under discussion. The

reviews of Weber, Baudrillard and Gabriel and Lang are delivered

in neat three quarter page packages, with each now commonplace

interpretation well contained and clearly differentiated from the next.

As an introduction to the field such summaries are no doubt invalu-

able even if they do tend towards simplification.

Having undertaken a necessary if somewhat standardised review

of the state of consumption studies in the first two chapters, Milesmoves on to consider some interesting applications of the consumer

ideology thesis, namely the relationship between consumption and

design, consumption and technology, fashion, popular music and sport.

Throughout the book Miles consistently raises and considers what

has become a central debate in the study of the sociology of con-

sumption – the tension between consumers as expressive, active

Book Reviews 457



agencies and the consumer as a being manipulated and exploited by

social structures and power. Whilst this debate is well explored in other

areas of the social sciences it now seems to be gaining particular atten-

tion in the field of consumption studies. The reasons for this are no

doubt complex but it can in part be attributed to the waning of post-

Marxist readings of consumption generally and the demise of overt

(post) structuralist interpretations in particular. Such readings tend

to explore the hegemony of consumer culture and only granted indi-

vidual consumers marginal or limited capacity for independent action.

Much of Miles’ discussion examines whether there is any scope

in corporate, commodity dominated consumer societies for individuals

to find legitimate and worthwhile forms of expression. For example,

Chapter five considers the relationship between technology and con-

sumption, concluding that whilst technological forces command a

“powerful influence on consumer society” (p. 87) they also furnish

consumers with higher standards of living, and in some regards greater

modes of expression. In Chapter six Miles states, “. . . fashion can

in some ways be regarded as an irresistible social force . . . a tool

of consumer capitalism, but it also gives consumers something that

they want and in this respect the fashion arena is an arena that gives

and takes” (p. 114). In Chapter seven Miles discusses the relation-

ship between consumerism and popular music and concludes, “a key

issue here, then, can consumers construct their own meanings inthe context of the music produced for them by the music industry?”

(p. 113).

The chapter on consuming sport is well written and descriptively

rich exploring and illustrating the process of commodification in this

rarely examined context. The discussion of the Olympics as global

commodity exposes how the commercial and market ethic exists side

by side with the ideal of amateurism and individual sporting achieve-

ment albeit with truly “postmodern” contradiction and juxtaposition.

The example of sport illustrates the fact that the title of “consumer”

is more appropriate in some contexts than others, and that when

applied to activities such as supporting a football or baseball team, the

individual as consumer is in certain ways disadvantaged.

Although Miles does a great deal to consider the potential of an

active and free consumer who expresses a clear sense of will, he

ultimately accepts and promotes a revised ideological argument,

namely, the consumer has free will but only because by expressing

it freely within the context of consumption can the ideology of con-

458 Book Reviews



sumerism itself be sustained. Freedom for the individual consumer can

only exist in a social context where consumerism is dominant. In

the final chapter Miles begins to provide a weighty consideration of

the implications of the Consumerism as a way of life thesis. Whilst

at no point does the argument totally endorse a standard ideological

reading of consumption, for example, rejecting the view that consumer

culture is a culture of the lower common denominator, and stating that

the pleasures consumers find through consumption outweigh any

concerns they may have about its ideological consequences, it is

clear that a critical and somewhat conventional sociological agenda

is increasingly adopted towards the end of the book. In the final

chapter Miles acknowledges the fact that consumption has an

increasing tendency towards exclusivity. That it promotes insatiable

desire and encourages individuals to follow “false promises.” The

clearest illustration of Miles’ ideological position can be found on page

156 where he states: “The real power relationship between consumer

and producer is inevitably camouflaged by the superficial appeals of

apparently liberating and creative consumer lifestyles.”

This support for a basic ideological reading of consumerism places

the text well within a conventional sociological canon although the

selection of cases and examples is in some respects novel. So if one

accepts the Consumerism as a way of life thesis, the important chal-

lenge for those researching consumer society is not one of reinforcement but rather one of alternative. By representing con-

sumerism not only as a dominant force of social organisation but

also potentially as a universal force in some contexts, there is a danger

that the concept of consumption itself will move beyond analysis.

For the ideological basis of the Consumerism as a way of life thesis

to be generally accepted, it is necessary to identify with at least the

same level of clarity and description alternative “ways of life” and

their ideological consequences without reverting to myth, utopianism

or nihilism.

The fact that such alternatives do not seem to be readily avail-

able either through empirical examination or hypothetical speculation

might suggest that this conventional ideological reading of consumer

culture is not particularly constructive. One possible way forward

would be to take a less aggregated approach to the study of con-

sumption and instead examine different consumptions or types of

consumerisms. Rather than seeing the consumer as a victim whose

agency has become the ideological property of corporate control it

Book Reviews 459



may be worthwhile considering those consumption situations and

contexts where individual expression seems more legitimate and

authentic and those where it seems less so. If an ideological reading

of consumer society is accepted as credible then it follows that one

must either search outside of this ideology with the objective of pro-

moting other “ways of life” or search within it for the more legitimate

forms of expression.

As for recommendation as to the most appropriate consumer group

or market segment for Miles’ Consumerism as a way of life thesis,

the fact that it is concise, easily accessible and readable makes the text

an ideal introduction for students of sociology but also for students

of business and marketing for whom exposure to such ideas is crucial.

For business academics attempting to promote sociological, rather than

economic interpretations of consumption but finding students

unwilling and unable to engage with Baudrillard’s (1998) Consumer

Society, or even Slater’s (1998) Consumer Culture and Modernity, this

text offers an engaging, and valuable, alternative.

REFERENCES

Baudrillard, J. (1998). The consumer society. London: Sage.

Miller, D. (1987). Material culture and mass consumption . Oxford: Blackwell.

Slater, D. (1998). Consumer culture and modernity. Oxford: Blackwell.

James Fitchett

School of Business and Economics

University of Exeter

460 Book Reviews

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