Introduction

The first edition of this contemporary classic can claim to have put ′consumer culture′ on the map, certainly in relation to postmodernism. This expanded new edition includes:

• a fully revised preface that explores the developments in consumer culture since the first edition
• a major new chapter on ′Modernity and the Cultural Question′
• an update on postmodernism and the development of contemporary theory after postmodernism
• an account of multiple and alternative modernities
• the challenges of consumer culture in Japan and China.

The result is a book that shakes the boundaries of debate, from one of the foremost writers on culture and postmodernism of the present day.