Inside Consumption: Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires

Following on from "The Why of Consumption," this book examines motivational factors in diverse consumption behaviours. In a world where consumption has become the defining phenomenon of human life and society, it addresses the effects of critical life events on consumption motives, and the sociological and intergenerational influences on consumer motives and preferences. Its cross-disciplinary approach brings together some of the leading scholars from diverse subject areas to examine the central question about consumption: 'why?'. Topics include: * the interplay between the heart and the mind in what consumers desire * hedonic, utilitarian, and variety-seeking motives * implications of a promotion versus prevention focus in consumer decision-making * motives for engaging in socially undesirable consumer behaviours * how individual consumers, communities and cultures come to value brands, fashion goods, and objects of art * inter-generational as well as information age influences on the motives underlying consumers' identities, both present and future. This is a unique and invaluable contribution to the area, and an essential asset for all those involved in researching, teaching or studying consumption and consumer behaviour.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Introduction Section 2: Consumer Approach and Avoidance Behaviors Section 3: Rules, Variety, and Flexibility in Consumer Choice Section 4: Sense and Sensibility in Consumption Decisions Section 5: Consumer Identity: History and Virtuality Section 6: Community and Culture in Valuing Brands Section 7: Consuming Authenticity vs. Triviality Section 8: Commentaries

About the Author :
University of Missouri, USA University of Virginia, USA

Review :
'This book truly challenges us to think outside the box. The editors have assembled an impressive and diverse group of well respected scholars and some of the brightest young minds in the field. These authors push our thinking toward new frontiers in existing areas of consumer research (e.g., motivation, emotion vs. cognition, and decision making) as well as new topics (e.g., consumer hope, community and culture, intergenerational influences). This book will help set the research agenda for the next generation.' - Wayne D. Hoyer, The James L. Bayless/William S. Farish Chair for Free Enterprise, University of Texas at Austin 'This volume presents a rich variety of distinct approaches to understanding consumer motivations in an affluent society. These diverse approaches range from more atomistic views of consumers exercising approach or avoidance tendencies, pursuing goals, maximizing utility, responding to advertising, or making decisions, to more molar views of consumers participating in cultural systems, enacting rituals, engaging symbolic worlds, forming communities, or questing for identities. Rather than seeing these chapters as pieces of a coherent whole, the volume may be best read as a series of arguments on behalf of alternative paradigms. It is here that the book gains its power as a provocative contest of approaches by insightful authors steeped in different cultural mythologies and social worlds.' - Russell W. Belk, N. Eldon Tanner Professor, University of Utah 'This book truly challenges us to think outside the box. The editors have assembled an impressive and diverse group of well respected scholars and some of the brightest young minds in the field. These authors push our thinking toward new frontiers in existing areas of consumer research (e.g., motivation, emotion vs. cognition, and decision making) as well as new topics (e.g., consumer hope, community and culture, intergenerational influences). This book will help set the research agenda for the next generation.' - Wayne D. Hoyer, The James L. Bayless/William S. Farish Chair for Free Enterprise, University of Texas at Austin 'This volume presents a rich variety of distinct approaches to understanding consumer motivations in an affluent society. These diverse approaches range from more atomistic views of consumers exercising approach or avoidance tendencies, pursuing goals, maximizing utility, responding to advertising, or making decisions, to more molar views of consumers participating in cultural systems, enacting rituals, engaging symbolic worlds, forming communities, or questing for identities. Rather than seeing these chapters as pieces of a coherent whole, the volume may be best read as a series of arguments on behalf of alternative paradigms. It is here that the book gains its power as a provocative contest of approaches by insightful authors steeped in different cultural mythologies and social worlds.' - Russell W. Belk, N. Eldon Tanner Professor, University of Utah