Shopping is generally considered to be a pleasurable activity. But in realityit can often be complicated and frustrating. Daniel Miller explores the manycontrad... » 

Shopping is generally considered to be a pleasurable activity. But in realityit can often be complicated and frustrating. Daniel Miller explores the manycontradictions faced by shoppers on a typical street in London and in theprocess offers a sophisticated examination of the way we shop and what itreveals about our relationships to our families and communities as well as tothe environment and the economy as a whole.Millers companions are mostly women who confront these contradictions as theyshop. They placate their children with items that combine nutrition with tasteor usefulness with style. They decide between shopping at the local store or atthe impersonal but less expensive mall. They tell of their sympathy forenvironmental concerns but somehow avoid much ethical shopping. They are facedwith a selection of shops whose shifts and mergers often reveal extraordinarystories of their own. Filled with entertainingand thoroughly familiarstories of shoppers and shops this book will interest scholars across a broadrange of disciplines. «