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von Weizscker, 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) bourgeois 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 Millers (1987) Material Culture and
Mass Consumption, although in far less depth but with consideration 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 invaluable 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, Miles
moves 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 consumption the tension between consumers as expressive, active

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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 attention 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 postMarxist 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 individual 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 consumption, 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 relationship between consumerism and popular music and concludes, a key
issue here, then, can consumers construct their own meanings in
the 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 achievement 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-

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459

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 challenge for those researching consumer society is not one of
reinforcement but rather one of alternative. By representing consumerism 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 available 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 consumption 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

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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 promoting 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 Baudrillards (1998) Consumer
Society, or even Slaters (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